French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said yesterday the United States had made a moral, political and strategic mistake by going to war in Iraq.
Mr Raffarin told France 3 television that Paris wanted US and British forces to prevail but criticised US policies that led to the conflict.
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There was no immediate reaction from the White House.
"The Americans made a triple mistake: first of all a moral mistake, and I think we have to say this: there was an alternative to war. We could have disarmed Iraq differently".
That was clear by Washington's failure to secure a UN resolution authorising military action should Iraq fail to destroy its alleged weapons of mass destruction, he said.
"Also, [they made] a political mistake, because we know very well the difficulties of this region of the world," he added. "We see how serious the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is, and at any moment it can set the world ablaze. It's a serious political error to start trouble in this region.
"And then, there is a strategic mistake: that today one country can lead the world," he said, arguing Europe should be one of the major poles of influence in the world.
Mr Raffarin's assessment of US policy appeared at odds with efforts earlier in the week to play down differences with the United States. The French authorities had expressed concern over the anti-US tone of protests against the Iraq war.
On Monday, Mr Raffarin urged the nation to remember the United States was a long-standing ally and that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a dictator.
"Just because we're against this war doesn't mean we want dictatorship to defeat democracy," he said then. "We are in the democratic camp. The Americans are not enemies".
He dismissed suggestions France wanted anything other than a victory of US-British forces.
