In their defense, the English Bulldog of 1922 was NOTHING like the modern day EB. In fact, even as recent as the early 1960's, the EB resembled the current Olde English Bulldogge more than the current EB.
Regardless, the APBT has a rich, and totally positive, American history, and it should've been adopted as the marines mascot.
At one time, the US was proud to use the APBTs image to refer to the country, as is obvious by all the WWI and WWII propoganda posters and whatnot.