That reminds me of what Bob Baer said in his book See No Evil. At one point in it, he basically described this massive conspiracy theory that many of the Iraqis he had met held that attributed practically every event (from US support of Saddam, to the US's change in stance) to a massive, extremely well-organized CIA conspiracy. I was almost in awe - I wish the CIA was that competent.

Steve

how can the United States deflate exaggerated perceptions of U.S. power?

We could stop apologizing for everything. Meaningful apologies are usually expected to be accompanied by acts of contrition. But more importantly, the apologies tend to reinforce the view of an all-powerful America that could have fixed a whole host of problems in the world.

This is a criticism across administrations. For example, I don't think George W should have apologized for Yalta, which implicitly means the USA had both the ability and responsibility to protect Eastern Europe from Soviet domination in 1945. Albright shouldn't have apologized for the allegedly successful CIA coup in Iran, because it reinforces the conspiratorial view that every tin pot dictator in the world is there by CIA sufferance.