http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57666-2003May15.html

France Says It Is Target of Untruths
U.S. Official Calls Claim 'Nonsense'

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2003; Page A01

The French government believes it is the victim of an "organized campaign of disinformation" from within the Bush administration, designed to discredit it with allegations of complicity with the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein.

In a letter prepared for delivery today to administration officials and members of Congress, France details what it says are false news stories, with anonymous administration officials as sources, that appeared in the U.S. media over the past nine months. A two-page list attached to the letter includes reports of alleged French weapons sales to Iraq and culminates in a report last week that French officials in Syria issued French passports to escaping Iraqis being sought by the U.S. military.

The stories, all of which Paris has heatedly denied, are part of an "ugly campaign to destroy the image of France," a French official said. Officials said they have no doubt that the stories were spread by factions in the administration itself -- hard-line civilians within and close to the Pentagon are their primary suspects -- and that there was no visible effort by the White House or other departments to discipline those involved or even find out who they are.

The unprecedented letter, signed by French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, is an indication of the depth and bitterness of the breach between the two historic allies and NATO partners over the issue of Iraq. Although French officials maintain they have tried to overcome the differences and renew the partnership, they say the administration has expressed little interest in rapprochement.

U.S. officials say they are still angry over France's leading role in opposing U.N. authorization of the war, and attempts to prevent NATO from giving Iraq-related security assistance to Turkey, and are contemplating the future U.S. relationship with France.

But a senior administration official last night dismissed the French charge of organized disinformation as "utter nonsense."

Administration complaints about a lack of French cooperation on Iraq have led to public and congressional expressions of anger in recent months. Campaigns calling for a boycott of French wine and cheese, and restaurants that have replaced "French fries" with "freedom fries" on their menus, have amused and worried the French. But French officials said they have grown increasingly irritated, and are now downright mad, over the more substantive calumnies alleged in Levitte's letter.

The list begins with a New York Times report in September alleging that, in 1998, France and Germany had supplied Iraq with high-precision switches used in detonating nuclear weapons. A denial issued at the time said that Iraq had indeed ordered the switches as "spare parts" for medical equipment, but that French authorities barred the sale and alerted the Germans.

In November, The Washington Post quoted an "American intelligence source" saying that France possessed prohibited strains of the human smallpox virus. The French Embassy issued a sharp denial and said it strictly complied with World Health Organization and its own national restrictions on such substances. In March, the Washington Times quoted a "U.S. intelligence source" as saying that two French companies had sold Iraq spare parts for airplanes and helicopters. The next day, the two companies named in the story, and the embassy, formally denied it.

Stories citing sales of chemical components for long-range missiles, armored vehicles, radar equipment and spare parts for fighter planes were reported, and denied, in April.

The most damaging story, however, came on May 6, when the Washington Times said that France had helped Iraqi leaders wanted by the United States escape to Europe by providing them with French passports, according to an anonymous "American intelligence source." The story said that officials at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House were angered by the alleged French action.

Levitte immediately called the White House, which assured him that the story was not true, a French official said. Washington Post inquiries at the White House, the State Department and the CIA elicited similar assurances that they were aware of no such intelligence information. The French Embassy issued a categorical denial.

Asked that day about the report, White House and State Department spokesmen offered lukewarm statements saying that they had no information and suggesting that reporters ask the French. Two days later, House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) called for the Homeland Security Department to investigate French actions.

Strong French complaints to the administration brought a May 9 statement by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher saying, "We don't have any information that would indicate the French issued passports or visas to Iraqi officials. . . .We don't have anything that would substantiate the premise."

But the next day, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was again asked about the report, he replied: "France has historically had a very close relationship with Iraq. My understanding is that it continued right up until the outbreak of the war. What took place thereafter, we'll find out."