The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which granted it a perpetual lease on the area.

It's a full American Naval Base, not just a coaling station.

As to the American "Nazional Anthem" (which reveals quite a bit about YOUR prejudices, Branno), the poem was written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812. Sometime later, it was set to the tune of an English drinking song. It became the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 and signed by President Herbert Hoover.

As to the Marine's Hymn, the "shores of Tripoli" line has to do with the U. S. Marines, in 1805, helping to clean out the base of a group of Barbary pirates, who had been preying on international shipping—not unlike the Somali pirates and some pirates in Indonesian waters are doing these days. DO try to get it right!

Go have yourself a beer and try to relax. You're hyperventilating.

Don Firth