The FT has not been enamored of Mr. Bush for some time but today the criticism reaches a new pitch. The editorial staff writes:
Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, professes to take responsibility for the outrages at Abu Ghraib prison. But nobody will believe it until he and others at the top of the command chain are fired. Abu Ghraib, a scene of indescribable horror under Saddam, should be bulldozed forthwith, and all prison facilities in Iraq should have human rights officers accredited to them. ...
Mr Bush probably has no hope anyway of securing additional help in Iraq. But if he cannot take the essential minimum of measures to restore his country's reputation, he does not deserve to stay in the White House.
You can read the editorial here.
Not to be outdone, Martin Wolff, the paper's chief economics editor, chimes in:
Crafting a foreign policy for a new era is hard. ... He (Bush) is not up to the job. This is not a moral judgement, but a practical one. The world is too complex and dangerous for the pious simplicities and arrogant unilateralism of George Bush.
With a subscription, you can read it here.
The FT's tone has become urgent and it's criticism aimed squarely at Bush. With the mainstream international press showing it's teeth, the US press may finally be shamed into joining in.