How To Start A War

Throughout history, war planners have used various forms of deception to trick their enemies. Because public support is so crucial to the process of initiating and waging war, the home population is also subject to deceitful stratagems. The creation of false excuses to justify going to war is a major first step in constructing public support for such deadly ventures. Perhaps the most common pretext for war is an apparently unprovoked enemy attack. Such attacks, however, are often fabricated, incited or deliberately allowed to occur. They are then exploited to arouse widespread public sympathy for the victims, demonize the attackers and build mass support for military “retaliation.”

Like schoolyard bullies who shout ‘He hit me first!’, war planners know that it is irrelevant whether the opponent really did ‘throw the first punch.’ As long as it can be made to appear that the attack was unprovoked, the bully receives license to ‘respond’ with force. Bullies and war planners are experts at taunting, teasing and threatening their opponents. If the enemy cannot be goaded into ‘firing the first shot,’ it is easy enough to lie about what happened. Sometimes, that is sufficient to rationalize a schoolyard beating...or a genocidal war.

Such trickery has probably been employed by every military power throughout history. During the Roman empire, the causes of war -- cassus belli -- were often invented to conceal the real reasons for war. Over the millennia, although weapons and battle strategies have changed greatly, the deceitful strategem of using pretext incidents to ignite war has remained remarkably consistent.

Read: 

1. How to Start a War: The American Use of War Pretext Incidents.
2. Show of Force in Strait of Hormuz - Risk of 'Accidental' Gulf War on the Rise

Then lock up your sons because the Russians and Chinese (and probably the Indians who source their oil from Iran) won't be pleased....

China to Protect Iran Even if Result Starts World War III (scary videos embedded)
Russia issues stark warning against attack on Iran






At the Nuremberg trials Hitler's second in command, Hermann Göring spoke about war and extreme nationalism to Captain Gilbert, as recorded in Gilbert's Nuremberg Diary:

Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ...voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country

That is why young Australian join the army to go to places unconnected to Australia like Gallipoli, Turkey or Afghanistan. We...

are being attacked

To not go is a...

lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

 It always has been and always will be.

Those Turks were a big threat to Australia and Britain in 1915. Its navy was 13 ships to Britain's 160.

Gallipoli, like Afghanistan and Iraq was/is 'defending' Australia. As Iran will be.

When they come home in a box, they were a brave young patriotic man  defending Australia with weeping dignitaries fawning over the casket.

Actually, what they are is a  corpse. When a negotiated peace is finally made with the protagonists because its another un-winnable theatre someone should put a chess pawn on their grave.