WolfieVN-Strictly speaking, though, the U.S. is the country which has seized and kept the largest amount of territory. Neither the Japanese-occupied areas of China nor the Soviet satellites were as large, nor as long-occupied, as the total breadth of the United States, which was almost entirely taken by force. We do also consume more resources per capita than the inhabitants of any other nation in the world.

While Powell is correct that we have never asked land of those people we came to aid, he fails to note that on numerous occasions (Mexican War, Spanish-American War, the entire history of our dealings with the Amerindians) we have seizes the land we wanted by force, and that most of our interventions were done partly if not not entirely for self-preservation. It is no coincidence that we failed to enter either world war until our own citizens were attacked.