[Nono]

There are lots of stories like that from any similar situation. War quickly peels away our thin veneer of civilization. And the nicest kids do the damnedest brutal things.

That said (and leaving aside those who hate it just because it represents The Powerful West a lot of people hate the US because in their eyes it stands for supreme arrogance: its unshakable belief in its own superior way of life and its willingness to shove it down everybody's throat. American exceptionalism means being so superior that you don't have to play by the rules that you expect others to play by. Americans have to step outside and lean way back to appreciate how galling and sometimes murderous that is.

Then there are a lot of people like me who have mixed emotions. We strongly dislike the foregoing but like and admire a lot as well.
However, we're appalled by what we see as a sharp veer toward militarism, contempt for free speech and democracy, a widening gap between rich and poor -- in short, a decidedly illiberal trend in what we used to appreciate as the most liberal of societies.*

With all due care for judicious choice of words, I think what we're beginning to see to a truly alarming degree in the US is fascism: powerful nationalism; identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying factor; supremacy of the military; controlled mass media; obsession with national security; obsession with crime and punishment; firm belief in divine support. What finally convinced me that the F-word is appropriate was listening to right-wing talk radio in the States a couple of months ago. Man, that's shocking.

* Note to those who use "liberal" as a term of abuse. Look it up. Liberalism is what made your country great; its destruction will turn it into a cheap carnival.