In Washington, it is widely assumed that a showdown with Iran over its nuclear ambitions will be the first major crisis to engulf the next secretary of defense -- whether it be former Senator Chuck Hagel, as President Obama desires, or someone else if he fails to win Senate confirmation.  With few signs of an imminent breakthrough in talks aimed at peacefully resolving the Iranian nuclear issue, many analysts believe that military action -- if not by Israel, than by the United States -- could be on this year’s agenda.

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Despite these dark comments by executive producer Tom Hanks, the first few moments of "The Pacific" (premieres 9 p.m. Friday, March 12, on HBO) feel dangerously weighed down by sentimentality and machismo: We begin with a gentleman lighting a candle in church for his dead mother, then asking a pretty neighbor if he might write to her after he ships off to war. Next, we watch as an officer delivers a valiant speech to his Marines about the importance of the Pacific theater in the war. "We will meet our enemy and kill them all," he tells them with a heroic growl. After that, we join a family dinner straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with the sweet, idealistic dialogue to match.

Finally we join our young, hopeful Marines aboard a big gray battleship, gliding toward Guadalcanal.

Marine No. 1: Can someone remind me why we're here again?

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