The US creates Instability in the World

There is an interesting response to an international survey which indicated, among other things, that the greatest threat to world stability is the United States of America.
THAT IS CERTAINLY TRUE --- IF you have a “better red than dead” mentality. However, as a nation we have a really bad attitude toward people who try to tell us what to do. In spite of rumors to the contrary, we are not a particularly peaceful people. Since 1608 we have been engaged in no less than 40 wars and armed conflicts covering about 316 years (computed from a list found at: http://www.historyguy.com/War_list.html. That’s a lot of fighting for a “peaceful” people.
The US won every thing prior to the Korean War. The Korean War continues through today under a truce. Since the implementation of the “truce” we have “lost” almost every armed conflict we have entered. The notable exceptions are, Grenada, Panama, and Desert Storm. Grenada and Panama did not last long enough to really engage the public’s attention.
Some might argue that the rescue of Kuwait was, if not a loss, at least a tie. Although the rescue of Kuwait met all of its stated military and political goals, it could be seen as a failure because the operation failed to reduce Saddam Hussein’s ability to militarily threaten his neighbors; nor did it sufficiently humiliate him so that he was no longer a player on the “Arab street”; nor did it sufficiently scare him to make him willing to abide by the terms of the Peace Treaty that he signed.
We fail because we have lost the national will to win.
In Northern Ireland the British face a religious conflict similar to the one that we are facing in Iraq. Approximately 38% of the population was Roman Catholic. approximately 45% of the population of Iraq is Shiite; as a percentage of the population the British had 3 times as many troops in Northern Ireland as we do in Iraq, but we have to cover 7 times as much territory in Iraq as the British did in Northern Ireland. The British had the advantage of: a stable government, short supply lines, and an enemy that shared a common language and appearance. Even so, it took them 30 years to bring peace to that country (we hope).
30 years to a lasting peace. What is there in the Iraq situation that makes us believe that we can do better there than the British did in N. Ireland?