"And then there are 'allies' where public sentiment is so strongly anti-America, makes one wanna puke. Lez talk Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey etc"
Well they are not real allies. Their governments are allied with us to further the interests (often divergent) of both countries.
Turkey, for example. We needed them in the Cold War to station nukes against the Soviets. They needed us to protect them from Iran and the USSR.
Pakistan is not an ally at all, we just basically used them for basing rights, etc in the WOT.
Aside from Musharaff, all of Pakistan hates America. Musharaff dies (which isnt all that far-fetched) and Pakistan could become another Iran.
Except with nukes. And modern submarines.
As for public opinion in Europe, the Europeans dont hate America, but some of them loath America's policies.
Again though, much of the information that says Europe hates America comes from liberal polls and such.
There is a very vocal group of America-bashers in Europe, just as the Kerry supporters out-shouted the Bush supporters before the US election.
But then the silent majority spoke, and the leftists were trounced.
Italy is controlled by a government that is in some ways more conservative than the Bush administration (Burlusconi favors an all-out ban on abortion and once said that "Islamic culture is inferior to Western culture").
In Germany, the conservatives won the last election. Denmark is pretty conservative and pro-American, and have troops in Iraq.
I'm tired of listening to the lying reporters in the MSM like the NY Times tell us how much the rest of the world hates us.
Europeans may disagree with some US policies, but they respect America, and like it.
I know this because I live right near NYC in New Jersey, and I'm often when in NYC i meet tourists from Europe.
My Uncle is also German (he came here from Germany, and his brother still lives there) and he tells me that germany is still a pretty conservative country at heart, and is still pro-US.
Schroder the leftist wacko lost the last election, remember.
When I visited the Netherlands recently, people didnt seem anti-US either. Actually, I think that they are waking up to the danger of Islam.
I was heartened to hear that after Theo Van Gogh was killed, a couple of mosques were Molotov-cocktailed...evil grin..>:-)