[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Phil

America (the leaders) decided to invade another country and actually got something good from it?

Actually, we made out like bandits from the Spanish-American War, which may have been started by a boiler explosion on the Maine.

The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America that took place from April to August 1898. The war ended in victory for the United States and the end of the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean and Pacific. Only 113 days after the outbreak of war, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the conflict, gave the United States control over the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, and control over the process of independence of Cuba, which was completed in 1902.

Not to mention that it gave us an excuse to annex Hawaii. Now one could argue that the Philippines is costing us more than it's contributing, but we definitely made out with Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The Philippines and Guam do have strategic value.

Those were the grand old days when you could wave the flag with one hand to distract the suckers while grabbing up real estate with the other.