The Chinese do all sorts of provocative things and they have since their inception. And the Soviets did too. Probing Soviet defenses is useful for defensive purposes. The Soviets know we are looking for weaknesses which means we are ready to defend ourselves if they attack. That was part of MAD-- demonstrating the potential for offensive capability served defensive purpose in making sure the Soviets knew they could not win.

Further, the US didn't barge onto the world stage in 1945 and start acting like a big bully. We got involved to stop Nazi and Japanese imperialism, which the rest of the world could not. Then we had the Soviet Union aggressively taking over Eastern Europe and pushing communist revolution around the globe. We could no longer retreat into isolationism.

We made mistakes and did some bad things. Everyone complains about how the US screws up the world but where would the world be without the US? If the Chinese and/or Soviets were dominant things would be better? To criticize the US is fine, but who would have done better for more people in the last 70 years than the US?

As for all the rest, I am mystified by your assertion that the invasion of Afghanistan was disproportionate to 9/11. I'm not a big fan of Bush II's foreign policy, but taking out the Taliban was a no brainer. I think any of the other presidents you mentioned would have done the same thing under the same conditions. And bin Laden was in Pakistan from 2002 on, the policies Obama followed re: Pakistan were Bush's. Obama caught heat for that.