They weren't planning to kill us. That is a lie. Kind of like how the military lied about Iraq, lied about Libya, and lied about Syria to justify war.
This is a long time strategy of US military to justify war. They lied about the USS Maine, the Lusitania, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Documentation has also come to light showing the they lied about Assad using chemical weapons on his own citizens which was justified for bombing. The Pentagon then covered up the report which showed the "moderate" Al Qaeda rebels had planted chemical weapons containers in order to blame Assad.
You may not like the source. I don't, but I like the level of detail and reporting. The whole thread of 17 tweets is pretty interesting.