Though as for military wise, there has never been a point where the US has been more dominant.

Outside possibly shortly after WW2 when we were the only ones with nukes.

The year 2011 so far has been the best evidence that gossips of US death were an utter.. exaggeration.

The world couldn't do anything against how America is realizing its global agenda. Russia and China are hilariously silent while being trashed out of Africa and ME. And Europe economics is such a looser, they do whatever they're said to. The pussies everywhere are so scered, they run cry baby and spin doom and gloom over fate of US whatever they see. It's all sociology, man. As for America... FUCK YEAH!

I'd like to point out that these nations are currently are only ones who could compete with the USA on a technological level (with the exception of Russia who is still quite powerful), most nations engaging with a war with America are signifcantly smaller and less well armed, so for a fair fight, it would really have to be either USA vs. Russia, USA vs. the EU or USA vs. China imo. If one of those happened, I don't think the fight would be so one sided.

@ OP: America is simply percieved to be weaker now than it was at the end of the Cold War

America is still certainly the sole superpower but I would say it has lost some of its lead recently. Its worst losses have been in soft-power, certain events such as the war in Iraq (and the bad intelligence leading up to it) and the tortutre in Gitmo have lead to a loss of American prestige and a loss of goodwill.
Economically the 2009 crisis and the recent bickering over the debt ceiling and soaring deficit have also dented Americas status as the sole economic super power, though it is still by far and away the worlds largest economy.

as the $ gets weaker so does america. they talk about it because we could have prevented it business, and spending wise.

not 9/11 is when the decline really started(imo the real reason for the recession), and America has never truly recovered from it.

the confidence in america has died and politicians arn't helping the situation by there spirit (tea party and republican'ts alike) of no compromise continues to put America in at risk of another recession or worse.

the falling value of the $ and and the gov. failure to compromise are the reasons for talk of Americas fall from grace/power. the global economy has relied on America for so long as it is the bank of the world but now it can't even pay its self.

the post 9/11 America is the envy of they world not the America thats nothing more then a shadow of its former self.

America is in default on its promise not to the American people as a whole, but wht it means to the world.

will America ever recover from its folly? sure but America will never be the same, and nor will its image to the global powers.

Sorry OP, not interested in your point OP. If you are going to throw out comments such as "the BBC has an anti-American bias' without evidence, then I shall throw out some baseless facts too.

America does not exist, Columbus actually reached China. America is not declining because China is America and China is rising.

You can't see US decline through military strength.

You see it when you open Forex and stock market.

@ the OP,
..... you stated;
"One other thing to get clear about the Iraqi war is that the actual war, that is, defeating Saddam Hussein's troops, and ending his regime was won in about 6 weeks. Far quicker than the previous encounter with Iraqi forces during the Gulf War, which lasted about 7 and a half months."

not trying to argue with your post, as it's an interesting topic, but I'd like to point out something in reference to your above comment.
Operation Desert Storm; which is when the American and Coalition forces commited themselves to an aggressive, 'offensive' action began in mid January of 1991- as opposed to Operation Desert Shield which was an initial build up of forces and 'defensive' military posture for Saudi Arabia that began in August of 1990.

Operation Desert Storm, an offensive military action designed to remove Sadam's troops from Kuwait, began on January 17, 1991. This is when the actual 'war' between Iraq and Coalition forces started. By February 26th, Iraq forces were retreating from Kuwait and two days later, 100 hours after the actual ground war had begun, President Bush called a cease fire and declared Kuwait liberated.

The goal of Operation Desert Shield was to remove Sadam from Kuwait, this was achieved in roughly 5 weeks, not 7 and a half months.
The military goal of the second Gulf War was to remove Sadam from power, this was also achieved in roughly the same time frame.

There is a decline of the USA.
For example, in Latin America USA used to have a huge control over the countries. They even decided if a president could stay or had to go, they gave support to some dictators, like Pinochet.
After 9/11 they completely forgot about Latin America, and new leaderships appeared, like Chavez or Lula. Now they have lost most of thei influence on the region.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=bbc+anti-american