Russian, European Media Critical of U.S.-Led Forces

Amid harsh antiwar rhetoric from the Kremlin -- President Vladimir V. Putin calls the Iraqi war the worst international crisis since World War II -- the war coverage on Russian state television underscores the damage to Russian-U.S. relations caused by the war.

Russians once endured the gory images of military humiliation in Chechnya on their TV screens, but much of today's Iraqi war coverage tells them that the world's most powerful military force is suffering a similar fate. Implicit is the message that America is not so great and Russia is not on its knees after all.

In France and Germany, the two European states that partnered Russia in most strongly opposing the war, the media tone also has been pointedly critical.

"Superpower in the Sand: America's Stuck Blitzkrieg" was the cover headline on the prestigious weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel, which last week labeled the war as "terror-bombing for freedom."

German newspapers have focused extensively on Iraqi civilian casualties. On its front page Sunday, the popular Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel featured the headline "Bloodbath in Baghdad Market," in reference to the Friday strike that killed dozens.

Drawing on their own country's embarrassing martial past, German media have compared the war with world wars I and II. In Tuesday's Bild, under the headline "Trench Warfare," a story asked, "Will it be as terrible as World War I?" alongside a photo of a German soldier in the trenches then.

In France, Le Monde on Friday questioned, "Where is Bush's war going?" in an article focusing on civilian casualties.

Even in Spain, a staunch ally of the Bush administration, press coverage of the war has been skeptical and critical. It reflects overwhelming public opposition to the pro-war stance of the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who joined the United States and Britain in sponsoring the failed U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq.

Spain's top two newspapers, the center-left El Pais and usually more conservative El Mundo, both have taken an outspoken antiwar stand in their editorial pages. Their news coverage, as in many European newspapers and some U.S. ones, has focused on civilian casualties, Iraqi resistance and setbacks to the U.S.-led forces.