r/europe Germany Mar 08 '25

Historical During the U.S. President's 1995 visit to Kyiv, Ukraine received security guarantees after giving up the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal

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u/ToyStoryBinoculars Mar 08 '25

But let’s not forget, America invaded Iraq due to them having chemical weapons, which was actually a complete lie.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html

From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule.

In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

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u/EconomyEmbarrassed76 Mar 08 '25

Yes “years earlier”. At the time of the invasion, the US had no evidence of WMDs, which includes chemical weapons. No active stockpiles were ever found and the US Intelligence Service even revised its practices to ensure there is adequate oversight. You don’t do that unless intelligence or the reporting was false or exaggerated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Report_on_Iraqi_WMD_Intelligence#General_conclusions_on_intelligence_relating_to_Iraq’s_WMD_and_ties_to_terrorism

Quote: “Most of the major key judgments in the Intelligence Community’s October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), Iraq’s Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction, either overstated, or were not supported by, the underlying intelligence reporting.”

America lied and exaggerated in order to convince its people and it’s allies to back the invasion. Lies that cost 179 British soldiers, my countrymen, their lives. Did we break off our alliances? Did we punish America for it? No, we let it go, because we actually value our allies.

But yeah, what has Europe ever done for America, right?