America’s wars: the invented reason and the real reason

When he wanted to justify the invasion of Iraq, then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell opened himself up to ridicule by showing the UN Security Council a vial of white powder to illustrate his claim that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction”. His chief of staff, however, spoke the truth when he said: “When we want to go to war with someone, we ‘invent’ the reasons.”