I'm sorry if it seems like i'm hijacking this thread:
but I wonder why incidents like abu gharib evokes so much passion
and talk ...
while something much closer to home goes almost un-noticed ?
Malaysia's "Abu Gharib" ...
some people practise "Selective Idealism" perhaps ? ... 
to me, some people hate the US for doing all these things, but of
course, this hatred goes a lot deeper than that, some stem from
religion, we all are aware of that, it's somewhat amusing, if it
wasn't so tragic, that in so many parts of the world today, from
algeria to venezuala, any wrong in their society today gets blamed
on the US, ironic, if you think of how other other countries would
be crying out for US help whenever disaster strikes ... some stems
from the jealousy and envy of the US, for like it or not, no one in
the world today comes close to besting the military or economic
might of the US today. that's why even supposed allies like germany
and france are quite happy to trip up Uncle Sam's plans at every
chance ....
the above is a non-normative, and cynical take of what I see in the
world today, and now for my personal opinion: I'm quite happy and
content to see a uni-polar world dominated by the US, for "the good
in the US will correct the bad" ... let's put it this way, supposed
these abuses were committed by some other country, do you think
they would ever see the light of the day ? ... one good example
would be Russia's conquest of Afghanistan, that took place barely
20 years before the Americans went into the place ... lots of
people literally disappeared during that period, ditto chechenya
.... remember that all these abuses were not uncovered by some
foreign intelligence services, but got blown to the New York Times
by serving members of the US military .... that is the key thing,
as much as the US tries to practise realpolitik, she'll have
citizens concerned enough, and willing to stand up, to do the right
thing, because her citizens enjoys "freedom", and are willing to
embrace it (freedom ... with all that it implies) ...
of course, this is not a popular opinion in the world today, I do
not have the illusion though, that the US is a perfect country ...
she's far from it of course, ... but i would rather that the
biggest, meanest, bully in the neighbourhood is Uncle Sam than a
lot of other countries I know ... if the roots of your dislike and
hatred are religious in nature, then kindly ask yourself if you've
been brainwashed by dogma, and try to step back and take a look
again ... if not, do the same ... decide if what i've said about
the good correcting the bad of the US is true.
