TonyA has it right. This is what great empires do. They invade, occupy, exploit, and kill. They kill not a few people, but many, many people. They torture and devastate. They do it so that those running the great empire, meaning the richest few at the top of that empire, can profit. They tell their ordinary citizens that they are doing it for the most laudable of reasons...to spread democracy, to spread education, to improve the lives of other people...and their citizens mostly believe it. But that's not what great empires are after. They're after resources, trade areas, money, and strategic advantage.

Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, Spain, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, the USA.

They all invaded, occupy, and kill when they have the power to do so. They all torture. They always have. Their own people are usually fooled by the excuses they make for their imperial measures. Others are not so easily fooled.