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The US Government's Crimes During The Cold War

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What would you do if you found out that the US government released toxic radiation in your neighborhood, or mixed LSD into your drink at the bar? These horrible crimes were committed by the US government, during the Cold War, against their own citizens, without consent. The Cold War was a battle between the two superpowers of the world, the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The two powers fought over economics and government, making it a war of ideas and a race for nuclear arms. The US thought that using their own citizens would be the best way to test out the mechanics; even though the experiments cause pain and death to innumerable people. Although the government denies that recompense is necessary, the victims of the US government’s crimes should be compensated because people were manipulated into participating, radiation experiments caused new disease, and the government broke the Nuremberg Code.
The subjects of the Cold War experiments were manipulated into participating in these heinous crimes. The government targeted people who were desperate for money, such as “Prisoners, drug addicts, mental patients, college students, soldiers, even bar patrons”(Budiansky). Each of these groups of people have a need for money, or drugs. The government took advantage of these needs and mislead them into partaking in something they had no absolute idea about. After all, radiation and LSD were still fairly new to the US. The government even went so far as to take

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