US: Mr Donald Rumsfeld took a beating in the US press as many newspapers demanded the defence secretary's resignation with scathing critiques of his handling of the war in Iraq that cited the abuse of Iraqi prisoners as the last straw.
The New York Times, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, New York Newsday, Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Detroit Free Press all called for Mr Rumsfeld to step down in editorials on Thursday or yesterday.
The Globe said yesterday Mr Rumsfeld "helped create a climate of lawlessness among the captors" in the Abu Ghraib prison by saying that the United States was not bound by the Geneva Conventions governing treatment of prisoners of war.
"Arrogance is the common thread," it said. "Rumsfeld should resign, and if not he should be removed by the president," continued the Globe, the hometown paper of the Democratic presidential contender, US Senator John Kerry.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch called for Mr Rumsfeld's resignation, as well as that of his deputy, Mr Paul Wolfowitz, and under-secretary Mr Douglas Feith for the prisoner abuse, underestimating the number of troops needed in Iraq, overestimating the danger of weapons of mass destruction, alienating allies and pushing the State Department out of plans to run a postwar Iraq.
"It's the accumulation of all these miscalculations, misconceptions and missteps - and an arrogant inability to admit his mistakes - that require him to step down," the paper said on Thursday.
In New York, the New York Times and Newsday called for Rumsfeld to go and the Wall Street Journal and Daily News said President Bush should keep him on. The Times accused Mr Rumsfeld of "almost wilful blindness" and said his whole team should step down. "The reputation of its [US\] brave soldiers has been tarred, and the job of its diplomats made immeasurably harder because members of the American military tortured and humiliated Arab prisoners in ways guaranteed to inflame Muslim hearts everywhere," it wrote.
The Wall Street Journal said the Pentagon had properly handled allegations of abuse, saying "reprimands have already been issued and careers ended". But, it added: "The best way to impress Iraqis about US purposes is to show that Americans guilty of abuses are being punished, and with more than letters of reprimand."
The Daily News said it was preposterous to demand Mr Rumsfeld's resignation because of "a revolting display of American troops at their basest." "We're still the good guys here, folks," the paper said.
The Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune also supported Mr Rumsfeld, with the Tribune saying he should not be fired when US troops are fighting in Iraq and a handover to Iraqi sovereignty is just weeks away.
In Europe, the weekly Economist published in London called for senior US officials to take responsibility for the abuse of Iraqi detainees. "It is plain what that means. The secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, should resign. And if he won't resign, Mr. Bush should fire him."
In Brazil, Globo said in an editorial that the violence against prisoners had damaged US credibility as it professed to stand for democracy and said Mr Rumsfeld should step down.