World War II was not an intervention. Even if you are talking our limited pre-Pearl Harbor involvement, the war was an immediate threat. And if you were talking

World War II was not an intervention. Even if you are talking our limited pre-Pearl Harbor involvement, the war was an immediate threat. And if you were talking after Pearl Harbor, that by definition is not an intervention, it is a retaliation. I'm not familiar enough with Tripoli to comment on it. So scratch the word "every" from that statement and replace it with "most" I'm also don't consider it an intervention when our allies are being attacked and our allies ask explicitly for our help. Edit: let me make this very crystal clear. I am not a pacifist. I'm a non-interventionists. There is a difference. If we are attacked or there is an imminent threat (I'm talking a battle ships with guns pointed at us right at our or our allies border kind of threat not "credible intelligence" from a "confidential source") we can and should respond with overwhelming force. This is not one of those situations.