If that's true then you are in for a lot of misery for many years to come.

Another page from history of these so called "quick regime change without much loss of life" that @Vod hopes for is Iraq.
Contrary to what you may think the invasion of Iraq didn't start in 2003, it started in the 1990's with sanctions (aka economic terrorism against civilians) and blockade.
Back in the 90's the US regime suddenly decided that one of their allies is a dictator (partly because he failed as their proxy in the 80's invading Iran with full support of NATO) and a "regime change" operation was started. During the 90's the US regime mobilized its navy and started carrying out various attacks/operations against Iraqis mainly trying to weaken Iraq's defensive capabilities. Then forced them to willingly disarm themselves, something they stupidly accepted. Similar to what they are doing to Venezuela today...

The Iraqis did not really dare to launch retaliatory strikes on this rogue regime either at the time.

After about a decade of this form of aggression, in 2003 the US regime with its coalition of barbarians invaded the weakened and disarmed Iraq and overthrew the "dictator Saddam" in less than a month. But the occupation and crimes this barbaric coalition committed in Iraq lasted for years:

• They murdered over a million Iraqi unarmed civilians (600,000+ women and children)
• They started human trafficking (kidnapped mostly underaged girls and sold them)
• They raped countless Iraqi women, usually underage like the infamous gang rape of 14-year old girl named Abeer al-Janabi on March 12, 2006 by US Army soldiers/terrorists in front of her family right before they slaughtered them all.
• They installed their most brutal proxy called ISIS in Iraq that murdered countless more Iraqi civilians.
• They executed Iraqi scientists and anybody with education or basically with brain who might have re-built the country after their invasion.
• They destroyed majority of Iraq's civilian infrastructure
• They stole Iraqi natural resources including their oil; and even to this day the money for any oil that Iraq sells goes to US regime's bank and only a tiny fraction is given to Iraq. They are even taking some of that money to cover the cost of their invasion!!!
• They created the torture house in Abu Ghraib and many other places where they regularly abducted regular people to take there and brutally torture.
• They used nuclear munitions against Iraqis and the people are still suffering from its health consequences
• They looted museums and stole anything of historic value and destroyed what they could not steal.

... and a lot more and Iraq is still under US occupation nearly 20 years later!

P.S. Maybe you are wrong though. Amassing power and such particular capabilities as I mentioned in my first comment is not for just show off...
And that's just one of the examples off the top of my head.