European Press Review: Baghdad Bomb a "Wake-up Call"

The tragedy of the bomb attack in Baghdad should be a wake-up call to the world writes Britain’s Guardian echoing the words of former UN human rights chief Mary Robinson. Merely to reinforce troops would not be enough to tackle the problem opined the paper - a second resolution is needed to replace the coalition as the temporary authority while a new Iraq government is helped to emerge.

According to Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau, the international community can no longer allow the United States to keep it on the fringes of its adventure in Iraq. Anti-war coalition Berlin and Paris should intervene in Iraq and help Bush save face - not as a favor but for the benefit of the Iraqi people who deserve better than the chaos they are helplessly stuck in, the paper said.

Moscow's Kommersant agreed saying this is an opportunity for the previously anti-war coalition nations of Germany, France and Russia to rethink their policy. These countries made the loudest calls for the UN to play a significant role in Iraq wrote the daily adding that this mission needs to be protected with troops.

America can't win the peace alone commented Brussels daily La Libre Belgique. And U.S. President Bush faces a dilemma, either the United States increases the number of troops or it hands over responsibility to the United Nations with the risk that America will lose control over the reconstruction of the country.

Bulgarian daily 24 Tschassa opined that the attack has called into question the legitimacy of the United Nations. Half of the world doesn't believe it needs the UN and the other half uses the international body to fulfill its imperial goals. Since Tuesday the blue helmets are no longer an institution but simply another military target.

French paper Le Monde saw the attack as further proof of U.S. weakness. It shows in the worst way that the United States is incapable of fulfilling its basic responsibility of securing safety for the country and the Iraqi population. American only needed three weeks to end the reign of a terrible dictator but in the four months after the war has failed to provide water, electricity and security.

Austrian paper Salzburger Nachrichten said that the bomb attacks in Baghdad and Jerusalem indicate a major setback for U.S. foreign policy plan to create a new order in the Middle East. These terrorist attacks signal the return of every extremist power that America tried to back into a corner with its war on Iraq, the paper contended.

“Is retreat possible?” wondered Milan's Corriere della Serra and answers “No.” The current occupying force is not large enough to fight a guerrilla war and train an Iraqi police force. So long as Saddam Hussein is still alive and operating underground U.S. troops cannot leave and the paper added even if Saddam is killed the instability will continue.