You are seeking the narrow definition of nation state behavior as the equivalent of personal
And as to defining the WW's of the last century, you can disgree with Churchill if you choose, but he was there for both.
Bush41 likely made a mistake in not ousting Saddam in 1991, but since Kerry and his party had voted against that war, supporting another of his cynical attempts to rewrite his role in history is not a path I willl go down.
Kerry is the classic political hack: support something early, as he did Vietnam, and then when it gets tough blame it on others and betray the principals which he claims led him there.
He did it with Vietnam, he did it the PA, the war on terror, and now on trade.
Ed