Leach was responding to remarks Friday by former US adviser Richard Perle in the French newspaper Le Figaro in which he said the United Nations would "sink" along with Saddam Hussein's government, even if it did not disappear entirely.

"Mr Perle is not in the United States government," Ambassador Leach said on France 5 television channel:

"He is a private citizen who does not speak on behalf of the American administration, and I hope we will not pay attention to what he says, and that the French won't listen to him."

Relations between Paris and Washington have suffered because of French opposition to the US-led invasion.

Perle, a former assistant secretary of defense and leading advocate of the war in Iraq, resigned last month as chairman of a Pentagon advisory panel because of a conflict-of-interest controversy.

"President (George W.) Bush believes the United Nations has a role to play," the ambassador reassured French viewers. But he added:

"The coalition forces fought and lost lives. You can't make sacrifices like that and simply disappear.... the Americans, British and Australians must necessarily have an important role to play.

"But the UN must also share in Iraq's reconstruction."

The remarks highlight controversy between Washington and European partners on the UN's role in postwar Iraq, with Bush talking of a "vital" role and France's President Jacques Chirac talking of a "central" role.

The American envoy also sought to play down remarks by US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz Thursday in which he said France should "pay some consequences" for its opposition to the war in Iraq, particularly for its veto of NATO support for Turkey.

Wolfowitz's main task was ending the war, Ambassador Leach said, stressing: "He is not speaking on behalf of the American administration, but of the military."

Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington Thursday: "The French have behaved in ways... that have been very damaging to NATO. I think France is going to pay some consequences, not just with us but with our countries who view it that way."

SPACE.WIRE