Um, I don't usually get in on these type of things. But I take exception to the point that the U.S. didn't directly murder natives. What do you call the Indian wars? They were wars of conquest to take the land from the Native tribes.




>>I would not call that person smarter than you. In fact, I would call him uninformed. Look at the the actions of the U.S. overseas - good and bad - and look at the history of the once British Empire and there is no comparison. We have definitely stuck our nose where it does not belong and stayed longer than was needed, but at least we did not murder hundreds of thousands of natives, take over the country and its government, and monepolized their production. The two countries that we could be acused of 'ruling' or 'occupying' (although that is a poor interpretation and is only used to put a more negative spin on it) are still in their infancy stage with no established government and successful police force to maintain security. In two or three years it can be reviewed again and scrutinized in compared to the British past but it is still to early for those. That does not take into consideration our history of supporting insurgents in other countries but we never took over
>>those countries and ran them and controled the locals for own benefit as other countries have done. As for England, Egypt and cotton come immediately to mind... let's not forget the Sudan, India, and on and on and on...
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>Although I agree with the gist of your post, especially the direct murder of lots of natives, I am unsure on the part of "The two countries that we could be acused of 'ruling' or 'occupying'". To which countries do you refer to? Surely it is way more than two. Benevolent occupation (colonization some might say), or not, there are a few (list is by no means complete), Philippines, Guam, Samoa, Saipan, and other pacific Islands, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras and at one point or another most Central American countries.
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>Before somebody complains about the list. Yes, we did invade - and stay -in many Central American Countries (Note that I am not considering our small invasion of Mexico by Gen. Pershing on this list as it was unrelated to this issue). The Philippines was for all intents and purposes an American Colony for a few years. Most of the islands I mentioned (except Cuba) were - and still are to this day - American Colonies. "Commonwealth" is just an eufemism. They are not independent (like the Phillippines is after we left - and Spain before us), nor they are a State with full rights and votes like Hawaii.