 Following the September 11 attacks by Al @-@ Qaeda and the declaration of a " War on Terror " by President George W. Bush , an invasion of Iraq was proposed . During the United Nations Security Council deliberations , French Minister of Foreign Affairs Dominique de Villepin made it clear France would neither support nor participate in the invasion . This caused some Americans to accuse France of betrayal , reigniting prior anti @-@ French sentiment in the United States . 
