According to a report in The Washington Times:
The French government secretly supplied fleeing Iraqi officials with passports in Syria that allowed them to escape to Europe, The Washington Times has learned… it undermined the search for senior aides to Saddam, who fled Iraq in large numbers after the fall of Baghdad on April 9. “Now you have the French helping the bad guys escape from us.” [commented a Bush administration official]…”France formally denies this type of allegation, which is not only contrary to reality but is intended to discredit our nation,” [Nathalie Loiseau, a spokeswoman for the French Embassy] said…The intelligence on the French passports came after reports indicated that a French company covertly sold military spare parts to Iraq in the weeks before the war. [“France helped Iraqis escape”, May 6th 2003]
All the more reason to pave France.