Hollande prefaced his admonishment by parroting the now famous, "We Are All Americans Today," headline from French newspaper Le Monde, dated September 12, 2001. Hollande then blamed the U.S. response to 9/11, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq, for fanning the flames of terrorism.
"Even though France, through (ex-President) Jacques Chirac, rightly refused to join the intervention which it even condemned, it has still been a victim of the consequences of the chaos it caused," Hollande continued.
France may have opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq but it also aggressively supported the 2011 NATO intervention in Libya. France and Britain pursued a United Nations (U.N.) Security Council resolution supporting a no-fly zone in Libya, and heavily pressured President Obama to sign on to the plan.