BBC NEWS | France disputes Iraq bribe claims

"The French foreign ministry said that it was important to first discover if there was any truth behind the accusations."

Now there's a novel idea unknown in the US or in the media: before refuting any claims, say that you must investigate them. Can you imagine Bubba Bush or Bubba Powell reacting in this manner?

'As far as we understand it, the accusations... are unverified either with the persons concerned or the authorities of the countries concerned,' spokesman Herve Ladsous said.

As it goes, one of the French names on the list is Charles Pasqua who already has his own legal problems in France for alleged embezzlement and influence peddling.

"The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says France appears to view the US accusations as at least partly politically-motivated, following its opposition to the war on Iraq."

This is more than likely. What better way to get Bush and his WMD failures out of the spotlight than to reignite the BIG HATE bonfire amonst the Bubbas? And if you think that this idea is just conspiracy hype, ask yourself why the names of Uhmerican folk and companies were left out of the report.

Names of US companies or citizens found on the secret Iraqi lists were left out of the report on grounds of the US Privacy Act, the ISG report notes.

After all, Halliburton has been in the press an awful lot already.