Vietnam? No Europe first. Europe didn't go to war. The Germans went to war. Most of the German war machine was on the Eastern front, you didn't bail the soviets out. And while you helped the Brits a lot, I dare you to say you bailed them out to their face.
Now on to Vietnam, who or what exactly were you fighting there? International communism? As someone who was born behind the iron curtain, I HATE commies more then any American ever will. And yet I would not drop napalm on anyone in any effort to fight commies. It is not worth it me. Obviously we disagree on that.
Pox blankets true fact. Massacres, countless. If at some point you do bother to look deep into that part of US history, you may just never look at your country the same way again.
Having been around the world and currently living in America, Americans are of the, if not the, most nationalistic of all the western nations.
Not that is necessarily a bad thing. My point is, you can and should be proud of America. But it is more complicated if you are fully cognizant of the fine details of US history.
Berserker rage is not specifically an American problem; it is a human problem. So an American will not feel bad about being an American because of things like this; he will feel bad about being a human. He will tend to work to prevent America from engaging in this sort of behavior again but the past is the past.
[1] Listen from 22:22 onward through "Act 3": http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=195
[2] and/or read this: http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/archive/losing...
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philips_War
EDIT: Such berserker rages and violence are not justified but they do happen and it's worth understanding the pattern if you want to make the world a better place.
That reminds me of a brilliant quote from the Vietnam-era fighter pilots, who were at the time dropping Agent Orange on the country-side.
Original: "Remember, kids, only you can prevent forest fires."
Pilot: "Remember, boys, only you can prevent forests."Well, outside of Euro Cup finals week, sure...
Vietnam? at least we have the guts to go to war. Europe didn't and they got their asses handed to them, we then bailed them out.
Pox blankets? stupid or asinine (I'm not looking it up. Your probably referring to us infecting the 'Native Americans') but I'm sure we aren't the first to do something like that.
Being an actual American... I don't see that we are all that patriotic.