I EMAILED some of my friends in America, half-teasing, half warning: if George W. Bush is voted in again, the American people will have to explain to the world why such a thing could happen.

I sent that email on May 22, 2004, after the world had seen the photos and read of the torture by the American army at Abu Ghraib Prison, and after the news of the death of around 40 people (including children) who wer