"The high-water mark of the American Empire was...." Pretend you're a historian and fill in the

[think]

31. I love America but that doesn't mean I won't call a spade a spade.

Our American military has intervened on behalf of multi national corporations for over a century. Retired United States Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler said it best in his book War is a Racket :

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.

In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.

I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916.

I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_is_a_Racket

Here's a link to a list of of our US military "interventions" since 1890. It's a very long list:

http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html