The peak of the US "lead" would seem to be the fall of the Soviet Union. Vietnam etc. was long over by then. Not saying Iraq and Afghanistan weren't unnecessar

The peak of the US "lead" would seem to be the fall of the Soviet Union. Vietnam etc. was long over by then. Not saying Iraq and Afghanistan weren't unnecessary and expensive. The U.S. and the world would have been better off without them, probably. Saddam and the Taliban, Isis, Al Qaida don't look so dangerous in retrospect. But Islamic "extremism" was the big perceived threat back then, and you could argue that it is less of a threat today, so someones' version of a problem solved.