4/25/1846: Mexican forces obligingly attack a U.S. 'scouting party' sent by President James K. Polk into disputed territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers in hopes of provoking just such a skirmish. The incident was used by the expansionist Congress as an excuse to start the Mexican-American War, during which the U.S. seized California and the Southwest.
These days, it wouldn't be necessary to send out the 'scouting party'. Bush would just say that if he sent one, intel says it would be attacked, so why bother? Just get the war on.
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