If true, perhaps Bush and Cheney, who were taken in by this con man, hook, line, and sinker, will be "saddened" too.
There's something very strange about this headline. Noone with even a rudimentary grasp of English grammar would write a phrase like "in the pay of France". I'm afraid someone may be pulling our leg here. The French for "lands" is pays. To be in the pays de france is simply to be in the country of France.