I think the invasion of Iraq was foolish.

It appears that Bush was trying to pull of an idea called "Democracy in a Box." The idea was that, if a superpower removed a dictator and gave the people an election; then that country would magically transform into a modern secular democracy in a generation.

The massive killing that took place in Iraq was a somewhat predictable civil war that would occur in a power vacuum in an area like Iraq where there was an intense rivalry of the Sunni and Shiites.

I think Bush was foolish, but your argument that Bush was trying to establish a dictatorship is a bit off.

BTW, if the US really aspired to being an imperial force as people claim, then all the literature would be about the great military exploits of the empire.

A strange thing about the style of insult you are putting forward is that the insult only works if it isn't true. If one tried insulting a true racist by calling him a racist; the guy would respond by saying: But of course I am a racist. Just smell the musk of my racially imperial arm pits!

If you tried to insult a true imperial power by claiming they were imperial, the leaders of the imperial power would say: of course we are imperial. Look at how great our empire is.

Bush was foolish, but the idea that the world needs to put down the United States and end the American Experiment in Self Rule because one president was foolish is equally foolish.