The POW abuse case has really made the line between those who hate all things Americans and those who believe the United States is a force for good in the world.  I happen to be one of those people who falls into the latter category.  Some US soldiers abusing POWs is not a good thing. But it needs to be kept in the proper perspective. It's not systematic and it wasn't torture in the way that most people think of torture (it was more akin to pre-interrogation humiliation).  But regardless, compared to the behavior that goes on in the rest of the world, the US is clearly expected to behave at a higher standard.

And I agree -- the US should demand its people behave at a higher standard. But at the same time, the rabid anti-Americanism is not constructive. The US is the world's most powerful nation. But as world hegemon's go, the US is pretty benign. If the US were run by a ruthless dictatorship (which some left wing kooks claim we are anyway) the US's response could have been "Yea, so what? Whatcha gonna do about it?".  It's really hard to take the complaints about the US seriously when the ones doing the complaining couldn't get their act together to do something about Saddam who was far worse. It's not like France, Russia, and Germany are going to mobilize militarily over anything the US is doing. And the reason they don't isn't out of fear or weakness but because deep down they know the US is a benign power.

The United States is restrained by its own checks and balances. Let's not kid ourselves -- the POW mistreatment story wasn't broke by the BBC or Arab news organizations. It was broken by 60 Minutes, an American news show. And they found out about it largely because the issue was already under investigation by the US military. If the US were some global boogeyman, there'd be no 60 Minutes coverage. The mistreatment would never have been known about.

But let's say you're still wholly dissatisfied with the United States. Then let me ask this, what real world power would you prefer be in the US's position? China? Russia? France? Germany? Japan? UK?  In some cases, the world (or parts of it) already got a taste of what that would be like to have one of them in the dominant position.  The question isn't what some imaginary world power of perfection might do in a given situation, it is what would other real world powers do?

In short, perhaps rather than viewing everything the US does through the "USA is evil" glasses maybe cut it a little slack and recognize that, for all its faults, it is a force for good in the world. It's trying to do the right thing to protect itself and in turn protect others.