[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

WTC/Pentagon inspired by terrorists who absolutely loathed America's military presence in the Middle East. Osama Bin Laden's statement regarding this is cited in the 9/11 Commission report.

We were there with the permission of the Saudis enforcing an UN resolution. Same with the sanctions against Iraq which Bin Laden also had issue with.

Iran hostage crisis is quite simple...there wouldn't have been a hostage crisis if we didn't have people over there...and if we hadn't overthrown the Shah, likely.

First off, they were diplomats. Second we didn't overthrow the Shah. We are the ones who helped him gain power in the first place, but even then it was a coup d'etat. I do agree that we should have stayed out of a purely internal matter, but the Shah was one of our few allies in the Middle East.

War of 1812 was declared by the United States forged out of expansionism and arrogance.

Yes American expansionism was an issue. But the bigger issue was that Britain was not respecting American sovereignty.
There was also the Barbary Coast Wars which were fought over issues of free shipping, and of course both world wars in which the United States had declared itself neutral. I'm sure I can go on and find more examples of defensive wars fought by the US.