the empire sets off to conquer another recalcitrant;

I am getting that Iraq deja vu feeling again, only this time with respect to Iran.
You’ll recall the build-up to the U.S. war of aggression against Iraq: WMDs. Mushroom clouds. Charts and graphs. Preventive war.
The anti-Iraq propaganda from U.S. officials was overwhelming, so much so that by the time U.S. officials initiated their war of aggression against Iraq, many Americans had completely accepted the notion that the United States was an innocent victim about to come under nuclear attack from Saddam Hussein and that the U.S. government needed to initiate a massive military attack and invasion of Iraq in order to defend the United States.
Of course, as everyone learned afterward, the propaganda was entirely bogus. There were no WMDs and even if there were, the last thing that Iraq was doing to do with them was start a war against the most powerful military in history. The entire propaganda build-up was designed to get the American people on board with a war of aggression and not ask too many questions.


https://www.fff.org/2018/07/23/iran-another-u-s-war-of-aggression/