Greed is the cause and religion the excuse.

More like an excuse.

I don't think religion starts wars. I t is always to do with overtaking territory. Spouting religion is just a convenient ploy to distract from what is really going on. The more land you are in control of, the richer you are.

No..greed and power is, but religion is a great way to manipulate the population into doing the killing for the powerful people who start the wars.

Cause of many. Justification for most.

No, people and politics. WW1, WW2, American War of Independence, American Civil War, 100 Years War, Napoleonic Wars, Punic Wars, and so on...

Religion has not caused wars as evidenced by the fact that Sunni and Shia Muslim religions are the same except for a disagreement over who was supposed to succeed Mohamud, yet they have no problem killing each other with abandon. It would also be a stretch to blame Japan's territorial expansion and Hitler's madness on religion. Wars, I would surmise are caused by different tribes appearing to be "different" from my own.

Wars are caused by greed, the lust for power, for resources.

Yes, the drive to have power over others and economic gains Is religion in my book. And not leadership.

Nah, competion for resources. Follow the money. Religion is just more publicly acceptable than 'we wanted to kill them so that we could take their stuff'.

National boundaries and territorial appropriation have caused many, long before any of the theist religions came to be invented there were wars. It was usually about dominance and conquest. Since the advent of Christianity there have been countless religious wars waged such as The Crusades in the 12/13th centuries, but it is only cause in part. As is usually the case in these sort of arguments, it is much more complicated and usually includes power struggles and politics. These things are never back and white. So yes I concur with your conclusions.
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Here's my take on things:

I think people are good at inventing reasons to fight regardless. Religion is awful and makes it easy to come up with excuse, but it seems the willingliness of obliterating each other runs deep in this species.

I'm going to go with greed. Land, money, power, etc.

Not the cause, but they help to gather the excuse and to gather people around the fight.
The real cause is always power, resources etc.

Leading writers like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens think so. Examples are The Crusades (Christians vs. Muslims), the 30 Years War & the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland (Catholics vs. Protestants), India and Pakistan wars (Hindus vs. Muslims), Israel vs. Egypt & other Arab neighbors (Jews vs. Muslims), the war against ISIS (Christians vs. Muslims). The "War on Terror" is really the "War on Religion" (radical Islam) but governments and newspapers do not like to use the word "religion".

Power and economics are the cause of war. Religion is used as an excuse to justify it.

More people have been killed in the name of a deity than for any other reason. Mostly wars.

Religion is cause of war

Wars are usually regional while religion is also regional. Correlation not causation.

The irrationality caused by religion causes people to act in destructive ways, including going to war. The fact that they don't believe that they're really going to die encourages aggression. For example, in a first person shooter people are much more aggressive than they are in real life.

Religion as a force for secular power can be a tool for the pursuit and justification for war. Too me there is a HUGE difference between personal faith in anything and religion as a structured organization designed for the accumulation of wealth and secular power. Every example of religion spearheading a drive towards war has beneath the surface a wish for material gain. From the colonization of the new world and subsequent extermination of the native people too the exploitation of such colonies and the rise of slavery as an economic force religion has provided funds and rational for the brutal acts intrinsic to these events. Nationalism which in many nations works hand in hand with the dominant religion of the state has had I feel as much to do with war if not more. Is religion the cause? No I think religion is the excuse and the skin as it were that many nations and people use to justify said war(s) or atrocities.

Religion and money .

I think it's different drives at different times. You have those that just wanted to explore in the beginning of civilization and met others and conflict started. Then you have those who have religious differences and believe they are the chosen ones with the "right" God and way of life. Then you have those who want to feel the power of conquest. Then you can have wars over survival or defense from an aggressor. You can have a war to protect others. Then you have the wars for money and economic treasures. Then you have the wars that mix some of the reasons. The U.S. right now is in an economic war with the rest of the world basically, but that can also include having power over others. I think most wars are about resources in one way or another. It seems most modern wars are about resources. Earlier wars were probably because of more various issues. The only way to stop resource wars is probably in trying to create or harness the power to have sustainable and abundant resources. Then we can fight about something else lol. The problem is that most of the people in charge seem to be closer to the narcissistic/sociopathic/psychopathic mind. They seek and excel at those positions because those positions better fulfill their desires and needs.

It may not be that religion is the direct cause of the beginning of most wars, though it certainly is of some, but it sure is useful in uniting and motivating people against a common enemy, as in "if God is for us, who can be against us?" and "if God is on our side, the devil must be on theirs."