'I thank U.S. media for making me a celebrity'

France's defence minister said yesterday the frequent personal attacks on her in the U.S. media during the war on Iraq, has made her "a celebrity", and she "thanks" them for that.

"I am thinking of thanking them for making me a celebrity; I am now known by most Americans," Michele Alliot Marie joked during a press conference in Manama yesterday, shortly before she left Bahrain at the end of an official two-day visit.

She was commenting on a question about the negative reports in American news papers during the war.

France opposed the U.S. war on Iraq, which toppled the regime of Saddam Hussain. She said Paris has wanted a UN sanctioned action again Baghdad.

"But I really was not bothered by attacks and the defamation of my character there," she added. "What really upset me was the defamation of my country, France."

However, she said it seemed the U.S. media were realising they made mistakes. "The press, in a great democracy like the U.S., should not report lies and distortion of the truth. Reporting the facts is what makes any press great," she explained.