America - this is why the world hates you. Not your thinkers or your ideals, nor even your collective public, but it is the words and actions of your "deciders" that the world's people, including some of your very own citizens, hate. Mr Bush likes to think of himself as "The Decider," with mean mutt Rumsfeld at his side. They decided on the invasion of Afghanistan which killed thousands more innocents than 9/11, then the lie of Iraq through which the course of sanctions and war have killed millions, then they oversaw the illegal combatants at Git'mo, then the humiliation at Abu Gharib, and now it spills into the streets of Haditha. As I read the article, and saw how the little girl Saba had all her family killed in front of her very eyes by marines, I could not help but feel that they were not only destroying the town of Haditha, its old men reading scriptures, its women lying prostrate with bullet in head, its children that have been left for dead, but that they were actually destroying the Hadith, the Qur'an and a small part of the Islamic world itself.
The bad apple routine doesn't work any more. In the US hunt for terrorists, Rumsfeld has openly allowed the use of psychological torture with the use of hounds, only God knows what has been allowed behind the closed doors. Those indicted for Abu Gharib were only low ranking officials, when it has been shown that higher involvement is certain. It has been in the remit of this administration that misfortune after misfortune has occurred, and they then still have the audacity to ask the world to agree to the kind of rule that they ask for.
I do not know if I can blame the marines. Yes, they committed the acts, but one could almost see their world as that of a temporary insanity. The ground forces usually some from deprived backgrounds, especially minorities. With few qualifications they have little other choices in life except going into the military. So they ship off to fight a war they know very little about, against a population they don't have the slightest understanding of. A war with an illegal remit, with fewer odds of survival every day and just when it cannot bear to be any worse, they lose their close friends for no good reason whatsoever. Do they care about Democracy? They need their pay checks more really, and that is why America is failing. Democracy, Freedom and human rights are not spreading because they are not being fought for. The war in Iraq is for oil and regional security, and a part of that is the forced democratisation of the people, so who would want to give their life for such a despicable and selfish cause.
Ideals are the most powerful tool on this earth. They can persuade and change men from enemies into friends and even brothers. They can cause societies to crumble, as we saw with the USSR, and to be raised out of the ashes. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was one such example, an example that has changed the world. Yet when these ideas become secondary to temporal, selfish and misguided whims, then a warped hedonism ensues from the chaos. Men fighting in the streets only for their slice of daily bread, is one such example. How lucky we are to not have to make these choices - but what happens when we have to? What way of life is worth living for? Your answer may disagree with mine, but ill say that if you have an answer more precious than you own existence, its worth discussing.
The Terrible Times We Live In 
