The one point that might matter is if one thinks about how the US switched to being all rah rah after we went to war against Iraq for WMD as you describe and so

The one point that might matter is if one thinks about how the US switched to being all rah rah after we went to war against Iraq for WMD as you describe and some pretty tenuous claims to a connection with terrorism. It does not seem to be outside the realm of possibility that it would not be beneath an unpopular government to use that as a motivation to make itself unassailable ( as in we're at war, it's unpatriotic to not support the flag/troops.) A lot of evidence points to the official US entry into the shooting war in Vietnam after what appeared to be totally fictional attacks on the US Navy - because the president did not want to appear to be weak. The other thing is the act of congress enabling the President to authorize force after 9/11 is almost unconditional if he/she just says terrorism. We should have rescinded that after Osama bin Ladin was killed.