French President Jacques Chirac has unleashed a torrent of criticism against the US-led war in Iraq, saying the conflict, which he fiercely opposed, had boosted the spread of terrorism.

In a wide-ranging New Year's foreign policy speech Friday, Chirac fired a broadside at what he called Washington's "adventure" in the Middle Eastern country, torn by sectarian strife almost four years after the invasion.

"As France had foreseen and feared, the war in Iraq has sparked upheavals that have yet to show their full effects," Chirac told the French diplomatic corps gathered in Paris.

He said the conflict, which the United States still describes as part of the "war on terror" it launched in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, had "offered terrorism a new field for expansion."\