I fear the US rushes into conflicts with arrogance and over confidence as to what the eventual outcomes will be I'm afraid history is not kind to them in that regard as they have many more failures than successs
Self interest is not a great ideal for going to war it should be for the greater good not personal gain, there have been many conflicts that there has been no personal gain for US to get involved then they just turn a blind eye to them.
That is not how the self described policeman of the world should act