[kyuudou]

Audience Member : Negrodamus, why is President Bush convinced there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

Negrodamus : Because he has the receipt.

- from Paul Moody's "Negrodamus" skit on Chappelle's Show

More seriously, Western countries sold Saddam plenty of chemical weapons which were used to kill lots of Iranians during the particularly brutal Iraq-Iran war during the 1980s.

The whole situation is complete madness from the average individual's perspective. Technically there were still WMDs in Iraq (because "we" sold them to them so of course we knew) but it was probably covered up or obfuscated.

[acqq]

> Technically there were still WMDs in Iraq

No:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destr...

"Iraq actively researched and later employed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nations Security Council.[1]"

What's sure is that at the time of 9/11, the U.S. had still significant quantities of chemical weapons that they just started to destroy a few years before:

https://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/23/destroying-chemical-weapons-...

"After the U.S. formally agreed in 1997 to destroy its 30,000-ton chemical arsenal, Newport's mission changed again" ... "Not until 2008 — 11 years after our visit and U.S. ratification of the chemical weapons ban—was the last of the VX eliminated."

[Supermancho]

> Technically there were still WMDs in Iraq

Depends on what you consider a WMD. How many expired cans of phosgene makes a valid WMD claim? Iraw famously used gas against many enemies, decades before. Ultimately, Saddam had less difficulty getting ahold of conventional arms, which he used to attack Kuwait. Unfortunately for him, this mobilized the US (who had been waiting a long time) as a signal that Saddam's regime was desperate, alongside showing what military capability they had.

[yesenadam]

>Western countries sold Saddam plenty of chemical weapons

Yes, and the US sold Saddam a wide range of biological weapons too. A lot of details near the bottom of this page:

https://fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html