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Us pleads not guilty { May 16 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-france16.htmlhttp://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-france16.html
U.S. pleads not guilty to French accusation
May 16, 2003
BY PAUL BASKEN Advertisement
WASHINGTON--Bush administration officials denied running an organized campaign to attack France, rejecting a complaint by the French ambassador that the United States is retaliating for their disagreements over the Iraq war.
''Certainly there's no such campaign out of this building,'' Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. ''I can't speak for the rest of the government. But I have heard of nothing like that.'' White House and State Department officials gave similar denials.
They responded as the French ambassador in Washington, Jean-David Levitte, sent a letter to administration officials and lawmakers complaining about a series of news articles criticizing France, attributed to anonymous administration officials.
The letter is part of an attempt by France to counter ''the untruthful accusations which have appeared in the American press and which have profoundly shocked the French,'' the Foreign Ministry said in Paris.
Levitte cited eight examples of recent news articles alleging French actions to undermine the U.S. war in Iraq, including arms sales and passport distributions. He asked U.S. officials to ''help put an end to these useless polemics.''
''The methods used by those propagating this disinformation have no place in the relationship between friends and allies, who may disagree on important issues but should not engage in denigration and lies,'' Levitte said.
The exchange underlines the damage to a centuries-old alliance stemming from the dispute over the war with Iraq. U.S. officials have complained that France, an ally since the U.S. Revolutionary War, went beyond opposing the war to lobbying nations against the U.S. position.
''The administration was very disappointed about our difference with France over the Security Council resolution,'' Alan Larson, the undersecretary of state for economic affairs, told a congressional hearing Wednesday.
''We were particularly disappointed about the sense that the French government was actively organizing opposition to our position in the Security Council,'' Larson told the House International Relations Committee.
France helped block U.S. attempts to get Security Council backing for a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.
Meanwhile, military officials said Thursday the Pentagon is cutting the number of people and aircraft it's sending to the prestigious Paris Air Show following the rift with France over Iraq. The weeklong biennial event for the aerospace industry is to begin June 15.
A limit of 150 people will be allowed to go--no one above the rank of colonel, a defense official said. He did not know how many people normally attend.
Bloomberg News, with AP contributing
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