Provoke and Deny

One of the most common strategies of the war-mongering and fascistic President has always been to maneuver and/or trick the enemy into firing the first shot (you see, this way the assholes get to have their war/enhance their power AND be the good guy). It was Polk did in 1846, what Lincoln did in 1861, what McKinley did in 1898, what Wilson did in 1918 (the Lusitania), what Roosevelt did in 1941, and what LBJ did in 1965 (Bush 2, to his credit - or detriment, didn't even use this pretense in 2003 and instead opted for something called a "pre-emptive war"). Of course, what's even more disturbing than this is the fact that on each of these occasions the government (and in many cases, the court historians as well) has more or less been able to keep a lid on 'em and hence they are repeated and repackaged over and over again - the genie (AKA, the imperial presidency) seemingly out of the bottle permanently now.