The US made a "triple error... morally, politically and strategically" in launching war on Iraq, Raffarin said in an interview with France 3 television.

"There was an alternative to war," he said, adding that the ongoing Iraq war could even trigger turmoil in the Middle East region.

The prime minister noted France was not anti-American, saying: "It is obvious that we have no solidarity with dictatorship or with a dictator, but we say clearly to our American friends, 'You have made a grave mistake.'"

France had been a leading opponent to US military campaign against Iraq and insisted that the crisis be resolved within the United Nations framework.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2003)