unpatriotized history:

During and since the Cold War, in the period prior to 2001, the US was one of the world's foremost enemies of human rights.

The US killed millions of people during and since the Cold War (prior to 2001) in US military attacks on and military occupations of other countries.

The US tortured people itself, very extensively, long before 2001. Click here for some examples.

During the Cold War the US set up, trained, and sponsored dictatorships all over the world that used imprisonment, torture and mass murder to control their populations. The US supplied torture equipment and expertise to client regimes during the Cold War. Click here for quotes on this.

Amnesty International itself pointed out US's involvement in human rights violations, both during and after the Cold War, prior to 2001. Click here for quotes on this.

unpatriotized history:

During and since the Cold War, in the period prior to 2001, the US has repeatedly broken the most basic and important international laws.

Before 2001, but not "decades" ago, the US violated international law with attacks on Iraq, Yugoslavia, Sudan, and Afghanistan. These attacks violated the UN Charter, which forbids attacking any country without prior UN Security Council authorization, except "in self defense if an armed attack occurs". The UN Security Council did not give its prior authorization to these attacks, and they were not done in self-defense.