Apparently, the French are now a “race.” France’s US envoy slams ‘racist campaign’ against French over Iraq war. (Hat tip: Occasional Reader.)

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) - France’s ambassador to the United States denounced what he called a “racist campaign” against the French waged by US media and fueled by the Pentagon since the start of war in Iraq.

Ambassador Jean-David Levitte told staff, students and diplomats at the University of California at Los Angeles that Fox News and the New York Post, media baron Rupert Murdoch’s properties, led the onslaught with a daily barrage of insults.

“It was a racist campaign,” he said in a speech to the university’s School of Public Policy and Social Research. “We were insulted just because we were French and it was unfair and dangerous.”

He said such a campaign would never have been tolerated in the United States if had it been directed against blacks or Jews.

The envoy said the campaign of disinformation included “lies from the Pentagon,” but said it ended quickly after he lodged a complaint with US Secretary of State Colin Powell last year.

Actually, the difference goes deeper than “race.” I think the French may well be a different species.