7. Invasion of Iraq
Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images News
In the Post 9/11, War on Terror fervor, the U.S. invaded Iraq on the basis of dictator Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction. Though Hussein’s forces were easily defeated, no WMDs were ever found, and sectarian violence has continued ever since the 2003 invasion first began. Nearly 5,000 Americans have been killed along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis for no apparent reason.
6. Caning of Charles Sumner
Source: Wikipedia “Southern Chivalry” by John L. Magee
In 1856, debate surrounding slavery had reached a boiling point, with Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner giving a scathing indictment of the institution and the legislators in D.C. who supported it. South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks took great offense to Sumner’s speech and attacked him at his desk on the Senate floor, beating him savagely with his walking cane, while other southern Congressmen held off any bystanders who wished to stop the assault. The attack drew praise from the South and outrage from the North and represented the “breakdown of reasoned discourse” that led to the Civil War.
5. Project MKUltra
Source: Wikipedia
From 1953-1973, the CIA engaged in secret and illegal experiments on unknowing American and Canadian citizens in hopes of finding drugs and other substances that would alter people’s behavior and put them under mind control.