Top 10 Worst Things the CIA Has Done
The CIA was created in the 1940s by the Truman administration. President Truman would later express regret over the creation of the agency, stating that it routinely abused its powers.Spot on, Harry. Spot on.
In the 1960s, the U.S. wanted a war with Cuba badly, so badly that the CIA actually had a plan to trick Americans into supporting a war against Cuba. The plan was for the federal government to carry out terrorist attacks against its own citizens and then lay the blame on Cuba, thus gaining the much-needed support for a war. Thankfully, President Kennedy, before being assassinated, rejected the proposal.
Well, thank Kennedy for that.
MKUltra was a series of experiments conducted by the CIA to find out if it could successfully conduct mind control. You read that right. The CIA was trying to conduct mind control. They would give test subjects LSD, isolate them, psychologically torture them, and even try to hypnotize them. Thankfully, the experiments failed, or so they say. When the public found out about this, the CIA defended itself by stating that mind control would only be used on terrorists or enemies of war. Yeah, like that makes it any better.
It's ironic how the American people were outraged when Russia interfered with our latest election. The CIA has interfered in more countries' affairs than any other agency in the world. It first helped overthrow the democratically elected leader of Iran in 1953, replacing him with the Shah, who was later overthrown himself in a revolution in the 1970s. Later, the CIA interfered and sometimes toppled the governments of many countries, including Nicaragua, Guatemala, Congo, the Dominican Republic, South Vietnam (while it existed), Brazil, and Chile. And those are only the countries we know about. There could be several more that haven't been confirmed yet.
The CIA tortured unconvicted terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. The torture included waterboarding, extreme isolation, sexual humiliation, rape, electric shocks, and occasional beatings. The CIA even threatened harm to some of the prisoners' families. One prisoner claimed that a CIA member threatened to rape his mother and kill his children. This torture led to very little useful information, and much of the information obtained was fabricated. None of these prisoners were ever tried for a crime. While most may deserve punishment, it is frightening that the CIA could abduct you in the middle of the night and torture you, with your family never knowing what happened to you. Even if you are a convicted terrorist, the level of torture at Guantanamo seems extreme, don't you think?
In the 1970s, during the Cold War, the USSR invaded Afghanistan. To help repel the invasion, President Carter, and later President Reagan, authorized the CIA to arm rebels in Afghanistan. This turned out to be a success for the most part. The rebels the CIA armed were victorious, but after the Soviets left, they didn't know what to do. Instead of investing in infrastructure, education, healthcare, etc., they split up and started fighting each other, causing chaos and destruction. Eventually, a new group was founded, promising order and stability. This group was the Taliban. The CIA inadvertently helped create the Taliban, indirectly leading to events like 9/11.
During the Vietnam War, the CIA routinely kidnapped citizens. Let me repeat that: citizens. One more time, for good measure - citizens. The CIA routinely kidnapped citizens who were alleged to support the Viet Cong. These citizens were tortured, raped, and sometimes executed. Let's just throw the Constitution out the window, shall we?
If I were a U.S. president at that time, I would have halted this!
During the Vietnam War, many Americans were upset and protested the war. This was a big no-no according to the CIA, which was bribing news outlets to spread propaganda. The CIA effectively spied on U.S. citizens who protested the war. Later, the operation expanded to spying on women's liberation groups and, for whatever reason, Jewish groups.
The U.S. needed new technology badly, so badly that the CIA hired Nazi scientists to help them create the desired technology. You read that right. The U.S. government had Nazis on its payroll.
During the Cold War, the CIA wanted Fidel Castro dead. They tried to assassinate him unsuccessfully many times. They attempted outlandish methods such as planting bombs in his cigars and giving him a poisoned pen. Obviously, all these attempts were failures and a huge waste of taxpayer money.
The Newcomers
Individuals who experimented on POWs and Chinese people were given citizenship and pardons. This includes members of the Japanese Unit 731.
Saddam was indeed brutal, but Iraq was stable and prosperous before the USA intervened under false pretenses. Now, Iraq is a mess and a failed state.