I disagree that Wilson was an imperialist. Racist perhaps, but his whole thing was about self-determination. He had to justify the carve up of the Ottoman Empire that he knew the French and British were going to do anyway in terms that wouldn't contradict his principle of national self-determination. Obviously, the United States never signed the treaty of Versailles, but I'm not sure if we were considering taking any territory in the Middle East anyway (we were offered the mandate of Armenia, which was eastern Turkey and the Caucasus Mountains).