Even the French must know that this is over the top. Given the context in which we see this occuring, there can be no way this could be justified, and any reasonable man, even the French inspite of our jeers and catcalls. So in what context could the French be seeing the situation that would lead to such a bonehead public statement?
Well, you might have noticed that Congress did not declare way under the constitution. It passed a resolution authorizing the president to carry out UN sanctions against Iraq spelled out in (if I don't remember the numbers, these are close) 678, 867 and 1441 each one empowering any member state to carry out their provisions. One provision, if I remember correctly, is the use of military force against Iraq for refusal to comply.
We are presently on a UN mission, the only thing different is that the Security Council did pass another resolution. But we have plenty of live resolutions, so we had to go on the authority of the ones already passed.
France is still a member of the UN and a permanent member of the Security Council. Since we are doing the UN's bidding, as evidenced by the resolutions of the US Congress, the outcome will be still be governed by the UN, and French controlled factions will have influence.
It's possible that France+clique can convince a majority that America has done a brilliant job on their part (under UN authority, of course - with evidence of the acts of our own Congress), now it's time to begin the restructure phase and other members need to get involved in that, the UN being a league of cooperative nations.
Plus I have heard President Bush say things that lead me to think he's going to involve the UN post-war.
France might more accruate than we imagine. 