more on star wars episode 3

In this post over at Hit and Run, Julian Sanchez asks, why weren't the separatists simply allowed to leave the Republic? I think this can be answered by looking at our own Civil War. As anyone familiar with the Civil War will recall, Lincoln masterfully maneuvered the Confederacy into striking first at Fort Sumter, thus giving the Union the rationale for attacking the South. Similarly, Darth Sidious maneuvers the Trade Federation into attacking an innocent planet, Naboo, thus giving the Republic an excuse to attack the separatists. I have no idea if this was an intentional parallel by George Lucas or not, but it is a possible explanation for some of the events in the movies.