Unfortunately, the US has had another strong influence over the world in the past 7 years and that is the use of fear tactics to pass laws that are inimical to our supposed core principles. Behind closed doors he Bush administration passed laws giving it the 'legal' authority to detain US citizens at the president's whim, to wiretap anyone in the country at will and to torture prisoners it deemed--without any evidence necessary--to be 'enemy combatants.'
These anti-terror tactics have been detrimental to humanitarian law. Quoting from a BBC article:
After a three-year global study, the International Commission of Jurists said many states used the public's fear of terrorism to introduce measures.
These included detention without trial, illegal disappearance and torture.
It also said that the UK and the US have "actively undermined" international law by their actions.
It concluded that many measures introduced to fight terrorism were illegal and counter-productive.
