In fact, then-French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie offered the Tunisian government official help in dealing with the protesters.

FORBES: Connect

His de fence minister Michele Alliot-Marie has expressed her worries about media campaigns against the French in the U.S. and said that more must be done to recreate understanding between the two nations.

CNN: Analysis: Battles ahead over U.N. role

Michele Alliot-Marie's remark, in a newspaper interview, were the bluntest criticism of Washington by a French official since presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush skirted around their differences on Iraq at a summit two weeks ago.

CNN: France accuses U.S of 'economic war'