People have pointed this out, but I don’t think it’s been sufficiently highlighted that while they espoused democracy and spouted traditional patriotic slogans, they were aiming to create an American Monarchy, an American Empire of sorts. That was the Project for the New American Century – a century in which America would essentially rule or at least dominate the world much like the Empires of antiquity – unfettered by the tedious processes of something like the UN or Congress. It was an attempt at a power grab of global proportions, and it was driven more by American Capitalism than American Democracy. I don’t think it was a plan for world conquest like the Empires below. What they had in mind was a loose union of democracies with multinational American Corporations domination the commerce, industry, and resources.

How do I get that from the drive to go to war with Iraq? Iraq was meant to show the world that we had the military might to conquer non-cooperating States and "convert" them into American style democracies beholden to the US for safety and protection. I think they focused on Saddam because everyone knew he was a jerk, and we already knew he could be easily beaten. We attacked him not because he was strong, but because he was weak.

Superpowers
Mongol Empire	Roman Empire	Maurya Empire
Arab Empire	Spanish-Portugese Empire	Russian Empire
Maratha Empire	Ottoman Empire	Qing Empire
Achaemenid Empire	British Empire	Cold War