How the rest of the world perceives us is rather more than a popularity contest; if you leave aside the moral/ethical issues(I don't, but...), consider it a matter of pragmatism. The US is unable to do the job they set out to do in either Afghanistan or Iraq, despite the accumulating carnage on both sides---and our few allies are bailing rapidly. The flouishing opium trade in Afghanistan is in large part going to
fund world terrorism. Given that we can't--or lack the political will to--successfully conclude even these two fronts, what are we going to do about North Korea and Iran, both of whom were always more serious threats, if/when they erupt, just to name the two likeliest candidates? Our current pre-emptive war, badly executed,which the rest of the world views with increasing abhorrence, is unlikley to win us world support, especially as we seem bent on further alienating the world on so many fronts. The US took what was nearly universal support after 9/11 and squandered it (like the budget surplus) by initiating a war that had little to do with that event. And losing the"popularity contest" in this way is undoubtedly the best recruiting tool Al-Quaeda could have devised....all of which is a somewhat lengthy assertion that our standing in the world, which is based on our actions rather than our rhetoric, and our security within it are inseparable.