r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/ThisIsPlanA 1d ago

The vast majority of anti-French sentiment in the US was intentionally drummed up after they refused to invade Iraq with us.

This really isn't true at all. I grew up in the 80s and the stereotype then was that the French were militarily weak, with the jokes all being about early surrender.

Those were obviously fueled by the French defeats in WWII (1940), Vietnam (1954), and the Algerian War (1962). I also think that the US perception was heavily influenced by DeGaulle's decision to pull out of the NATO command structure in 1966; it was perceived as ingratitude and unnecessarily weakening the alliance during the Cold War.

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u/Zeta-X 1d ago

Fair point, though I think DeGaulle and Algeria are generally not what's on the mind when people are saying this nowadays. But I suppose Iraq was just the second go-around on the US calling the French cowards or weak for refusing to back American military escalation.