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Kosta, sometimes things are exactly what they appear to be. Not everything is a conspiracy. Look at history using primary sources and in the context of the times. Contemporary newspaper articles, letters, diaries, and official documents all support what I wrote about the Spanish-American War. Your counter-point is based on a quote and events that occurred decades later, or, in the case of America's "manifest destiny", you are wildly off-target in citing that as a motivator to "rule sovereign over the hemisphere, and now the world"--manifest destiny referred primarily to coast-to-coast expansion in the 19th century. I have never read or heard any American in my lifetime state that it was our "destiny", manifest or "providential" or otherwise to rule over either the hemisphere or the world. And the facts belie your characterization of the the USA as imperialist. America is far and away the biggest military and economic power in the world--you'd think we'd at least have taken some hemispheric low-hanging fruit; e.g. Panama--control the canal & collect some fees--whoops, we've given that away twice recently. Grenada--had that in 1983--tropical paradise and could of locked up the world's nutmeg supply--gave it back. Maybe Venezuela? Chavez is already hated by most of his people, the Army is small, and they have lots of oil much closer than Iraq. Haiti & the Dom Rep? Easy take-downs and jeez, we used to be there, but now we're gone--how could that be? And Cuba, heck, we were all over that one for a while, too; and now Castro does his best to poke his finger in our eye every chance he gets, but he's still in charge--and we haven't even covered all the places in Europe & the Pacific we once controlled and have left on our own--mostly with them much better off than before we arrived. Let's face it, Kosta, the USA is just plain absolutely incompetent when it comes to "imperialism"! Or perhaps, just try and consider these thoughts a little--as shattering as it might be to your world-view. The USA is not imperialist. The USA is primarily a force for good in the world. No other country in the world has brought freedom and prosperity to so many people or done so much to defeat oppressive regimes.

Now Kosta, having said all that, the USA is not perfect (Mex-Amer War, Kosovo, Amer-Indians, etc), but it is a long, long way from where you put it.

Mark, I don't have a problem with a superpower exerting its might over the world, it's the way we lie about it that is wrong. Why can't we just tell the truth?

Manifest Destiny was a state of mind. Its original coast-to-coast vision later morphed, perhaps under a different name, different doctrine, all the way up to the present day. Mad Albright's "indispensable nation" -- the one the world cannot do without is an extension of the same belief. Faith-based politics and biblical undertones are indeed "providential," just as the original one was.

I have heard about our alleged "ineptness" at being colonizers. Even a man I respect a lot, Pat Buchanan, seems to think so. But, we were colonizers. Just ask the Filipinos. Taking the Philipines from Spain was easy. Taking it from the Filipinos was not. After much bloodshed, we prevailed. Whatever our motives were, please don't tell me we colonized the Philipines to "liberate" the Filipinos.

There is nothing inept about our military taking high ground on its terms. The American people, not our government, are inept at being good colonizers. We have compassion for the needy and the weak. We are also very generous. I remember in Bosnia the Task Force Eagle issued orders to shoot stray dogs, and the American military refused. Many of them took care of the pups, often using their own antibiotic creams to heal their wounds. The locals tried to tell everyone the dogs were "viscious." The dogs knew better!

Imperialism is a policy. Its about government, and not American people. Imperialism is being above international law. Imperialism is doing what I please, when I please and how I please and not be accountable to anyone. Only empires behave like that, but we don't want to face that truth. We see ourselves as compassionate people who could not possibly be imperialists. So, we always need a "just cause" to do what we really don't like to do. And the government and its presstitutes provide us with noble lies, something both are very good at.

No politicians will get your support if he says "Go fight for my oil!" or "Your taxes are going up, suck it up!" Politicians have to tell lies to get elected. It comes with a job, and I don't trust liars. Only fools do.