World's press condemns jail pictures

A wave of condemnation swept round the world last night over the new pictures showing the scale of American abuses against Iraq prisoners.

In France, Le Monde warned the US occupation had sparked fresh attacks by Muslim extremists in Saudi Arabia and added: "The whole situation is at a turning point and becoming a monumental and tragic fiasco."

In Germany the Suddeutsche Zeitung predicted the scandal would lead to a meltdown in US foreign policy "because nothing else has so definitively confirmed that America is losing its values with President Bush at the helm."

Italy's Corriere della Sera said: "Just as the coalition enters its most difficult phase in its operations following the fall of Saddam Hussein, the terrorists have obtained a propaganda victory." The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, declared on its front page: "Man has been scarred."

In Spain, El Pais predicted that the problems faced by George Bush so far "will pale into insignificance compared to the effect these photographs will have".

Australian newspaper, The Age, called on Mr Bush to take decisive action against those responsible, saying: ""The US does not take the standards of dictators for its moral compass, it is a democracy committed to freedom.''

In the US, the Washington Post, which first published the new photos, today attacks defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his "contempt" for the Geneva Conventions, saying his attitude "has undermined the American military's observance of basic human rights".