You missed the part about the support of the international community. At the time the US invaded Iraq, they (we) unfortunately had widespread support in the gen

You missed the part about the support of the international community. At the time the US invaded Iraq, they (we) unfortunately had widespread support in the general sense, even if some countries were less supportive on the specifics. International consensus means quite a bit in cases like this, right or wrong. On the other hand, yes, if the US had been defying international consensus when invading Iraq, I do hope that the International community would push back in a way that caused the US to rethink their (our) approach.