Underlining the depth of ill-feeling between France and the United States over Iraq, France has officially complained to the White House that it is the victim of lies fed to the media by the Bush administration, writes Conor O'Clery
In a highly unusual move, the French ambassador to Washington, Mr Jean-David Levitte, put the complaint in writing to the White House, the State Department and the US Congress.
Yesterday French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said the letter was meant "to open up to them about the difficulties we are encountering ... so that such lies and calumny stop".
French diplomats are making an inventory of press accounts about France to show they are untrue, Mr de Villepin said, adding that the British media, too, had carried disinformation.
"Between friends, between allies, it is important to have a relationship based on frankness, hiding nothing, explaining oneself," Mr de Villepin said.
"On the other hand, lies and calumny must not be accepted. We must avoid being governed by rumour."
A White House spokesman denied that there was any organised effort to plant information against France. "They're a friend and an ally, despite the differences we have had."
Relations between France and the US deteriorated sharply in the spring when France made clear it would veto a UN Security Council motion authorising the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Recent allegations in the US media of French co-operation with Saddam Hussein's regime shared common characteristics, Mr Levitte wrote. They spread false information and all relied on "anonymous administration officials".
French diplomats have complained that the reports were used by members of Congress to stir up a vicious anti-French campaign. This has ranged from renaming French fries as "freedom fries" and a rash of jokes depicting the French as cowardly, to a damaging boycott of French wine and other products.
The letter listed eight reports appearing in the US media alleging that France aided the Iraqi government. The most recent was a Washington Times story on May 6th, quoting US intelligence officials and a Bush administration official that French diplomats in Syria had provided passports to Iraqi officials. This had not happened, the ambassador said.
Another story, in the Washington Post, said that France along with Iraq, North Korea and Russia had covert stocks of the smallpox pathogen, something Paris strongly denied.
France also denied a story in the Washington Times that two French companies had sold Iraq spare parts for fighter jets and Gazelle helicopters, again citing US intelligence officials.
Asked by reporters about the French complaint, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who famously dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe", denied that there was any such campaign out of the Pentagon.
"I can't speak for the rest of government, but I have heard of nothing like that," he said.