As for your list of countries we went to war with you sound like the opening lines of the old superman TV show "truth, justice and the American way." Makes one all teary eyed with pride that does but you obviously don't look very close to the actual events or consider the grand strategic and economic benefits behind the moves. The Gulf War One we had no legitimate business initiating and Afghanistan and Gulf War Two directly stem from it, as does the terrorist attacks on us that occurred since then.
Just a note on Panama. Did you know that Noriega was a CIA asset up till we decided to take him out? Do you think shangi- ing him back to the US to prosecute him, a foreigner, in US courts with US domestic laws which have no jurisdiction over Panama citizens activities in Panama was a just move? So why did we we take out "our" man? Because he became uncooperative and the canal was vital to our security? Then why did we allow it to be handed over the Chinese if it was so vital to us we went to war for it?
No, because he f***ed us. Because he was lying to us, and working with Castro to undermine American (and democratic) interests in Central America. But we shoulda just let him dupe us, right? Maybe the CIA should've directed a memo to all foreign assests formally announcing that they were free to betray all obligations to the United States (even to persue objectives exactly opposite to those agreed, as Noriega did) while retaining all benefits of their association.
BTW, you seem to have forgotten that Noriega formally declared Panama to be at war with the United States on 15 December 1989, i.e. before our invasion. So all this gives a pretty good idea of the no-war-no-time party's foreign policy views: Hostile regimes should be permitted to participate in smuggling drugs into the United States, smuggling arms to communist/terrorist insurgencies against freindly democratic governments (Columbia), and we must treat the heads of such regimes as legitimate heads of state, and by no means confront them militarily, even if they've openly declared war on us.
I should grant, however, that the United States did not consider the Declaration of War by Noriega legal, since he was not recognized as head of state. This was also why it was possible to indict him. (Noriega was fired as head of the Panamanian Armed Forces by the Panamanian President, but simply ignored that and then conived in having the legislature remove the President. Noriega then stole an election for President, the rightful winner of which was recognized by the United States as Panama's legitimate leader.)
It should also be noted that war was by no means the first resort wrt to Panama. Economic sanctions were tried, as was negotiation. There was even a deal made in '88 for Noriega to step down, in exchange for dropping the '86 drug indictment, but Noriega reniged.
Yes, in fact, it does do exactly that. One of the greatest things about the wider world in my lifetime has been the expansion of human liberty. Despite many false starts, setbacks and missed opportunities, literally hundreds of millions, in the past past quarter century, have passed from totalitarian or authoritarian goverance to free or at least broadly representative governance. America has played the leading role in this, and I most certainly am proud of that.
I wasn't accusing any freepers of being America Hatering lefists, but simply noting the tiresome frequency with which some libertarians or paleocons post material written by America Haters (apparently because they agree, in at least some significant measure, with the analysis therein). In fact, apart possibly from the anti-semite crowd, I can't think of a single FR "clique" that approvingly posts leftist material more often than the anti-war conservatives. In fact I can't think of another that even comes close.
Now, I freely admit that if I constructed a charge or argument out of this phenomena it would be an ad hominem or genetic fallacy, but it's too frequent to go entirely without comment, make of it what one will.
We didn't initiate it. Saddam did. He invaded Kuwait. Furthermore he was given every opportunity to leave Kuwait and end the war he started.