Perhaps the biggest lie of all was Roosevelt's characterization of the attack as "unprovoked." The US at the time was in a very isolationist frame of mind. It is probably true that we would not have gotten into the war until very much later (perhaps too late) had the Pearl Harbor raid not occured. For a close look at how Roosevelt engineered the attack, I recommend reading "Day Of Deceit" by Robert Stinnet (ISBN 0-684-85339-6).

There are historians argue well that the same "fraudulent attack" stratagem was used in the attack on the battleship Maine, and I think most people believe that Johnson's "Tonkin Gulf" affair was also a fraud. I would suspect that other governments have used the "device" as well.