Let's not forget William Randolph Hearst's famous quote prior to the Spanish American War - "You furnish me the pictures and I'll furnish you the war!"
Sadly, the modern day equivalent of that might have been "You furnish me the WMD's, and I'll furnish you the war!"
Except that so far we haven't those yet either.
:)
No, but they were -- to quote one "shining" example -- something the Beltway boys could bureaucratically agree as the core reason for war.
If politicians are more like an average person, that is either an insult to the people or a scary reminder how rotten people are. I will choose the former.
One does not climb to the top of a pyramid of power by being a "nice guy."