I don't think this is such an improbable scenario. The world has tolerated The United State's self-serving policy because our imperialistic tendencies have been largely confined to business and culture. However, our actions Afghanistan and Iraq must be regarded as what they are: invasions of sovereign nations.

While the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan enjoyed fairly broad support, our invasion of Iraq did not. And while our invasion of Afghanistan was supported by strong evidence that military action would serve the common good, the invasion of Iraq was not.

One of the few things justifying Iraq is the belief that on some kind of absolute scale of good and bad, "we" are good and "they" are bad. This is the same logic that claims history is written by the victorious, that the end justifies the means.

But like all matters of opinion, this can change, and the U.S. can find itself on the wrong end of the scale. This scenario is not improbable.