PLC, You made the following statement in another thread but I felt it was more appropriate to respond here:
I am well within my rights as an American to burn the American flag, not many countries have that kind of freedom... That doesn't mean I do it. The people we captured were not entitled to any protections as they didn't meet any of the requirements, that doesn't mean we took on the philosophy of "anything goes" and ignored all common decency.
Were there abuses? Yes. Were there hearings about the abuses? Yes. Were there people held accountable for those abuses? Yes. Did our policy change due to these isolated incidents (which caused the world, and some inside the US, to now believe US torture is the rule and not the exception)? Yes. Does America get ANY credit when it does the right thing? Double hell no... not even points for trying.
Do you really think our Military is so completely inept that they don't double and triple check, with added verification, before tossing someone into prison and paying out that reward money?
One of the "drawbacks" of being the free-est, most open society in the world is that America, her deeds, and her misdeeds are broadcast all over the world for everyone to see. Few other nations open their Congress to cameras so that the world can watch legislative debates about things like prisoner treatment and even fewer allow their Congressional Military Commission hearings to be broadcast. America even sends its free press into the warzone embedded with our soldiers and that same free press burns them anytime theres any hint of a scandal...
We do those things because we are an open and free society but it only makes the people who hate us feel that much more justified to watch us under such a microscope and so far removed from the bigger picture. They only look deep enough to see our extreme examples and thats what we're judged by, extremes.
PLC... You and I can talk about shortcomings in our policy and posit on ways that it could be improved upon but I'm afraid those on the outside looking in don't understand what you and I both know - Were talking about exceptions to the rule and all they see are these extreme examples. So when you suggest that we as Americans don't care about the plight of innocent detainees and routinely mistreat them, that just adds fuel for the people outside this country who are drooling for an excuse to hate us some more.
Those people don't see, and could care less about, any of our positive efforts: they don't notice that one guy cares enough about people he doesn't know to use an Avatar bearing the names of innocent victims. They don't hear about those of us who wrote and called their politicians asking them to stop playing politics with the war and come together to create solutions. All they know is what they see on TV and read about on the internet or papers, and none of its good.
My apologies if you didn't want to be dragged back in here but it makes for a far more interesting conversational partner than some I've had lately. 
