re: Tom's question isn't a bad one
OK, but there are two points:
Countries agree about possible multilateral automatic UN based initiatives, interfering with internal matters of sovereign states, because of fear of contagion of civil war into a neighbouring country or simply to prevent a genocide inside a country.
This would mean revising some of the UN charters.
And for the moment, there still is double standard (Iraq v any other country with civil war) which sends the wrong message to the world.
Besides, there simply isn't even in the US enough human and technological military resources to successfully wage two simultaneous wars across the world.
Soft power had its merits, if only psychological.
Raoul