Absolutely right, Greg. That's why I think the race for worst president in US history is between Polk and Bush--both started unnecessary wars, by choice, for bad reasons.

Bush probably takes the prize however--his wasn't even successful.

And the point about Lebensraum applying as much to the British Empire as to the US still holds.

You could defend the proposition that the American colonies' foundation itself was partly a British expression of the Lebensraum imperative.