We aren't the only screwed-up imperial power. Witness the French.

washingtonpost.com: French Unleash Force Against Ivory Coast Chaos: "The French military used overwhelming force Sunday to put down an explosion of anti-French violence in its former West African colony, deploying troops, armored vehicles and helicopter gunships against machete-waving mobs that went from house to house hunting for foreigners.


In the second day of military operations, French forces seized strategic control of the largest city, Abidjan, commandeering airports and posting gunboats under bridges. French military helicopters swept in to rescue a dozen trapped expatriates from the rooftop of a hotel.


The chaos erupted Saturday when Ivory Coast warplanes launched a surprise airstrike that killed nine French peacekeepers and an American aid worker. The government called the bombing a mistake.


France hit back within hours, wiping out Ivory Coast's newly strengthened air force -- two Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters and at least three helicopter gunships -- on the ground.


The slain troops were among 4,000 French peacekeepers and 6,000 U.N. troops who have served as a buffer between Ivory Coast's rebel north and loyalist south since civil war broke out in September 2002.


The airstrike on the peacekeepers came after government forces last week broke a cease-fire in place for more than year and bombed rebel positions."