Deck Knight. You don't seem to understand. Lee isn't saying the US had no part in WWII. He's referring to your attitude that Americans single-handedly saved Europe from Hitler.
Never said that either. See, here's the thing, I've never called America perfect, in fact, I can give you an exhaustive list of things I find deeply depressing about America. I always give credit where it's due, but I won't sit around and hear people lambaste America for being too late, after it's been asked "what has America done for the world?" It's the kind of disingenuous, dishonest crap that I won't let fly.
Fact is, the Eastern Front of the war was all Russia. Hitler made possibly the largest military blunder in history trying to take Russia over right before winter. If Hitler wern't such a dumbfuck and only focused on Western Europe, he might have taken everything over. As far as Western Europe, France started with a dumb move only defending one position, and the Blitzkreig mowed them over. That left it mostly to Great Britian, the US, Canada, and the French resistance that didn't subserviently cow to the Germans. The US was the arms powerhouse for the allies, anyone who wasn't in the military was in the factories making weapons or supplies for the troops. We certainly didn't do all of the fighting but we were responsible for a large number of troops and massive supplies to the Western front.
Anyway, I digress. Talking about their long, wonderful history only serves the Europeans if you allow them to gloss over the less desirable parts. Americans really don't expect gratitude or even acknowledgment at this point. You know what, so what if you call us arrogant. We are. Why hide it? When we're nice, you spit on us. We help you when you're down and you spit on us again. We're simply a better breed. Our founders broke off from a bunch of warmongering aristocratic elitists, and apparently those countries haven't changed much in 230 years.
I think it was you who said it earlier Firestorm: We basically have everyone checkmated. So really, I suppose I can sum it up this way:
We don't really need anyone beyond basic economic relations, so we don't care if they act like beligerrent old farts. They're irrelevant and they have been for a bare minimum of 50 years. America is a winning country. We, with rare exception, always win in the long run. Ultimately if you go up against us, you will lose. Even if we lost Vietnam, it was not because we were tactically or militarily inferior, but because we were poisoned from within. The Commies still fell though, didn't they? Americans hate a loser, so there is little chance that will happen again. We're stubborn, persistent, and yes, arrogant. We get the job done, and to hell with anyone else before or after. We're fine with making deals and getting along, because generally having to clean up after Europe or the Third World's messes is not in our interest: we always end up as the cleaning crew. Take Darfur for example. Oh it's horrible, it's shocking, it's a deplorable atrocity. And America is thousands upon thousands of miles away, whereas Southern Europe and the Middle East are within the general area. In fact, you might say the Mujahideen that is raping and pillaging over there is a little gift from the Islamonuts.
See, America is the horrible, awful, hated "World Police." Until you need us for something. Then we're "The neccesary evil." In short, Americans try to have respect for the rest of the world, but most of it only serves as a truly pitiable, envy-ridden place. As far as our own country, we recognize we aren't perfect, but we're the best society on earth when all things are considered together. Arrogant? Maybe. Got a problem? Come and say it to our faces, you have the freedom to. In fact, we've already had a few Euronuts do it. Hell, the UN does it on a daily basis.
