Despite a long history of alliance dating back to the American Revolution and including two world wars, France has always had a somewhat ambivalent attitude toward the US, and the Iraq War was not the first time that a controversial security policy undercut America’s attractiveness in France. Polls show similar reactions after the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Vietnam War in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and the deployment of intermediate range missiles in Europe in the early 1980’s.
尽管两国自美国独立战争时期起就保持了合作，包括在两次世界大战期间，但是法国对于美国一直怀有一种矛盾心理，而伊拉克战争并不是第一次出现一项有争议的安全策略削弱了美国对法国的吸引力。民意调查显示在1956年的苏伊士运河危机、60年代末至70年代初的越南战争以及80年代初在欧洲部署中程导弹后法国民众都出现了同样的反应。