The 10 Worst Things About the Worst Decade Ever

Guantánamo
Perhaps the most difficult development of the decade for Americans was the transformation of their global image from sole superpower and good guy to evil empire and trampler of human rights. Already tainted by the scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison, American ideals were further eroded by the extrajudicial treatment and brutal interrogation techniques at the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. To the rest of the world, Gitmo dimmed the light of liberty that America claimed to safeguard.

• The '00s: A Decade from Hell
• Guantánamo's Last Days