NEW YORK: The bluntest comments from the Bush administration about Europe have been attributed to Secretary of Defence Mr Donald Rumsfeld, author of the dismissive term "Old Europe" to depict France and Germany.
Yesterday, however, it was Mr Colin Powell, America's top diplomat, who came out with the latest transatlantic jibe. The US Secretary of State accused "certain countries" that oppose swift military action against Iraq of being "afraid" of upholding their responsibility to disarm Baghdad by force.
The comment, in an interview broadcast on France-Inter radio, was clearly directed at French President Jacques Chirac, who has infuriated the Bush White House with his call for UN weapons inspections in Iraq to be extended and enlarged.
"It is not a satisfactory solution to continue inspections indefinitely because certain countries are afraid of upholding their responsibility to impose the will of the international community," Mr Powell said.
"The problem is not more inspectors or a longer inspection process. My French colleague believes that is the problem: it isn't." His remark followed a new row in Europe over President Chirac's lecture to pro-American nations of the former Soviet bloc that they should remain silent on the Iraq dispute.
Mr Rumsfeld - termed "Secretary of Offence" by a Washington Post columnist - came under fire at a Pentagon press conference yesterday over the rhetoric he has used against France and Germany at a time when the US needed to build alliances.
He refused to retract his insults - Mr Rumsfeld has also termed French and German opposition as "disgraceful" and linked Germany with Cuba and Libya - saying "words are what they are".
He said the impression was left in news articles that Europe was opposing the US but, he pointed out, NATO support was running 16 to three in favour of the US.
"These words get mouthed over and over again that there is some sort of breach with Europe," Mr Rumsfeld said. There were "different views" over what were "tough issues." At a White House briefing, spokesman Mr Ari Fleischer was asked about the Powell comment in the context of "increasing rancour and nastiness" in the Western alliance.
Mr Fleischer retorted that "it is part and parcel of democracies to speak freely" and the alliance had shared values and would in the end remain close. "There are sharp differences, what's wrong with that?" he asked.
Mr Roy Blunt, the third-ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives, told a number of anti-French jokes at a recent town-hall meeting of leading Republicans in Missouri.
The remarks were greeted with laughter and applause.