Gimme a break. If we were actually an empire, we’d be pillaging and bringing back the loot (ie, loading up Iraqi oil on Exxon tankers for shipment to the states).
Oh, yea, and, if I remember correctly, when empires went pillaging, they weren’t actually all that worried about collateral/civilian casualties. Oh, yea, I forget - during Roman times there was no such thing - Carthaginian ? Death! Egyptian ? Death! Whomever resisted ? Death!
If we’re an empire, we’re damned kindler gentler one, that’s for sure. Perhaps we should decide to be a real one, ie, fly some B52s over the lands of those that oppose us and instill a bit more ‘respect’ for the ‘empire’.
Collateral damage and civilian casualties are one of the main tasks of an empire, to keep the subject peoples humiliated and aware of their subject status.