A moral Chernobyl

Christopher Hitchens calls Abu Ghraib "A moral Chernobyl", and he raises an interesting point: that it's not just a matter of how far up this goes (who gave the orders, who knew, who looked the other way), but of how far down as well. I've been occasionally thinking on similar lines, but in a darker direction. My worst nightmare is that the American people will look at Abu Ghraib, see the horrors their government has wraught, and go "so"? And if they do, the idea that the US is a beacon of liberty and human rights will truly be dead...