In that article today, a Marine says, "We like to see visions of evil being defeated by good. When the people at home glimpse the reality of war, that it's a bloodbath, they freak out."
The concepts of good and evil and their relationship to power has interested me for several years. I came to the conclusion that contrary to the common belief, "good" and "evil" are not neat opposites. C.S. Lewis came to the same conclusion, when he wrote in The Screwtape Letters that Satan's main opponent was not God but the archangel Michael.
Oftentimes, we label people evil who are not evil, especially in war. It makes it easy to dehumanize and kill them. It seems to me seeing good and evil as opposites is a type of Manichaeism, because (even if people don't know it) they see good and evil as equal in power, whichs invariably leads to paranoia and fear and hate, because they think that evil can overpower good. Perhaps they see the conflict in apocalyptic terms. Manichaeism was properly declared a heresy thousands of years ago. Were I a leader who wanted to start a war, I would claim we are good under attack by a homicidal evil that wishes to conquer and destroy us. Much of the nation would fall in line every time. In my view, that is what comes from seeing good and evil as opposites and equal in power--it leads to wars, hate, paranoia. In fact, I can't think of any good thing that comes from that view.