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Posted: 5/15/2003 4:27:54 PM EDT
PARIS (May 15) - France, which led opposition to the Iraq war, has instructed its diplomats to monitor U.S. media for signs of an orchestrated campaign of misinformation to discredit it, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Paris has angrily denied articles alleging collusion with the fallen regime of Saddam Hussein, including a recent report in the Washington Times that it issued passports to fleeing Iraqi officials wanted by the United States.

''As part of the campaign of explanation we are undertaking in the United States, we have decided to count the untrue accusations which have appeared in the U.S. press and which have deeply shocked the French,'' spokeswoman Marie Masdupuy said.

She told a regular briefing that France had denied all such accusations ''with the utmost force.''

In Washington, a spokeswoman for the French Embassy said French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte had written a letter to the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration complaining about alleged false news stories discrediting his country.

''The letter will be handed over sometime today,'' the spokeswoman said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied there was any organized media campaign to discredit France.

''There is no basis in fact to it,'' McClellan said. ''France is an ally, they are still friends, and despite our past differences, we are looking to the future.''

France is trying to patch up transatlantic relations battered by its threat to use its U.N. Security Council veto against any U.S. resolution calling for war -- a stance that finally forced Washington to forgo U.N. backing.

U.S. officials have said France can expect punishment for its stance, for example by exclusion from decision-making in international bodies like NATO.

France has denied recent U.S. articles reporting that it possessed prohibited strains of the smallpox virus and that French companies sold Iraq spare aviation parts. Some of the articles cite U.S. intelligence sources.

More wrangling between Paris and Washington is likely over a U.S.-drafted resolution to end 12 years of sanctions against Iraq. France and others argue the text does not give the United Nations a strong enough role in reconstructing Iraq and wants tighter guarantees on how oil revenues will be used.

Masdupuy did not comment on a U.S. call for a vote on an amended text some time next week, merely reiterating France's wish for a stronger U.N. role and a detailed time-frame for the transition to an Iraqi leadership.

REUTERS  Reut13:04 05-15-03

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Link Posted: 5/15/2003 4:49:41 PM EDT
[#1]
Having worked in the news media in the past I can assure France that orchestrated anything isn't something the media is good at.  Most media groups couldn't wipe their collective ass in an organized fashion let alone set up some kind of organized campaign.  (see CNN)

France needs to get a clue.  It's a large percentage of the American people who have had their fill of France's lying, arrogant, chickenshit attitude.  It's the American people who find it perfectly believable that France was giving aid and comfort to the very government who was trying to kill the members of our armed forces.  Frankly many of us would like to see Bush publicly tell France to go to hell.
Link Posted: 5/15/2003 4:57:35 PM EDT
[#2]
France had denied all such accusations with the utmost force.
View Quote


Well, I guess all that shit we have been hearing about them is untrue then. I mean, gee, they denied with the utmost force.
Link Posted: 5/15/2003 5:26:23 PM EDT
[#3]
"Dear France,

Thanks for the blockade help during the Revolution and for the big statue (we've planted it in one of our harbors and it really accents the place nicely).

Unfortunately, you've been nothing but a royal pain in the ass ever since, doing nothing more than bitching at us and backstabbing us while finding new and interesting ways to cost us the lives of our fighting men.

Please stop calling.

Sincerely,
Keith C.

P.S. - Forgive the lengthy response. I don't know how to say "Fuck off" in French."
Link Posted: 5/15/2003 5:38:59 PM EDT
[#4]
Quoted:
"Dear France,

Thanks for the blockade help during the Revolution and for the big statue (we've planted it in one of our harbors and it really accents the place nicely).

Unfortunately, you've been nothing but a royal pain in the ass ever since, doing nothing more than bitching at us and backstabbing us while finding new and interesting ways to cost us the lives of our fighting men.

Please stop calling.

Sincerely,
Keith C.

P.S. - Forgive the lengthy response. I don't know how to say "Fuck off" in French."
View Quote



Bravo! [hail2]
Link Posted: 5/15/2003 6:31:39 PM EDT
[#5]
Screw the French !!!!

I'm so damn tired of listing to their shit, I can't stand it anymore!!!

Next war, let Germany have them. Who cares??? Perhaps the Germans can teach them how to make cars or weapons ???

They ain't worth anything now except a pain in my ass !!

Link Posted: 5/16/2003 11:34:26 PM EDT
[#6]
Awww, don't mind the French, they're just pissed off because we liberated their pissant country just after they'd all learned how to sing the Horst Wessellied and Deutschland Uber Alles.....


Besides...any country whose national dog is a freaking POODLE should know that it doesn't take a media campaign to discredit them... they did it themselves!!!!!

[banana]

John
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