His apology was late and the damage done, said Arab and European commentators on Saturday, reacting to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"While he (Rumsfeld) has been in charge, murder, torture and humiliation were heaped on Iraqi detainees almost as a matter of course," the Saudi daily Arab News commented.
"Rumsfeld's apology came too late," said Jordanian analyst Hani Hourani. "I believe Rumsfeld should resign because the torture reflected a widespread policy adopted by the US army in Iraq and maybe Afghanistan as well."
Rumsfeld took responsibility on Friday for abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops and offered his "deepest apology" to victims during US Senate hearings broadcast live in the Arab world as well as the United States.
But Rumsfeld said he would not resign just to satisfy his political enemies.
Many Arabs and Europeans, however, said he should quit.
Kuwait, a close US ally in the Gulf, said the abuses by American soldiers recalled the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime.
"For us in Kuwait these (abuses) mean a lot of things, and recall the brutal acts by Saddam Hussein's regime in the same prison, Abu Ghraib, which held many Kuwaiti detainees," Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah was quoted as saying.
Arabic newspapers, from Egypt's opposition al-Wafd to Saudi Arabia's semi-official Okaz, showed pictures of Rumsfeld looking troubled with his hands over his face.
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