The suicide bombing  on Thursday at the cafeteria in Iraq's parliament building was not just an assault on Iraq's democratic institutions -- one that killed at least two legislators and six other people, according to the latest figures -- it was also a stunning failure of security during an important phase of the American operation in Iraq.

United States and Iraqi forces have been engaged since February in a very public and visible "security crackdown" in Baghdad, hoping to make daily life easier for the people trying to run and rebuild the country. On Thursday it failed -- publicly and visibly -- inside the Green Zone. US President George W. Bush put a brave face on the aftermath, saying, "It is in our interest to help this young democracy be in a position so it can sustain itself and govern itself and defend itself against these extremists and radicals." But the bombing was a symbolic blow, and German newspapers on Friday morning are sifting the psychological rubble.

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"The so-called Green Zone in the center of Baghdad is the heart of the 'new Iraq.' It includes the US troops' headquarters as well as Iraq's government buildings and the seat of its national parliament. The Green Zone is one of the most highly fortified corners of the world. Bombing a target there would be the dream of any insurgent since the US invasion in 2003."

"Even worse (than the psychological effect) for the Americans is the signal the bombing sends to Iraqis: Bush's powerful army can't even keep the peace within its own fortress."

"The gradual pacification of Baghdad was part of America's strategy for an eventual pullout and handover of security missions to Iraqi authorities. The idea was to strengthen moderates, encourage ordinary people to work with their leaders and to isolate the terrorists. The attack in the Green Zone has been a serious setback for this strategy."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"This only goes to show, again, that the war for Iraq is as good as lost for Washington after four years … The buildup of US forces by amost 20,000 in Baghdad alone was meant to secure the capital once and for all. But the latest attack demonstrates how feebly successful this offensive has been so far."

"Leaders in history have seldom made so many textbook mistakes in the prosecution of a war as the Americans have made in Iraq. All signs point to a war that will last many more years, and Iraqis will go on paying for failed policies in Washington long after Bush has left the American political scene."

Al-Qaida strikes in northern Africa

German papers on Friday are also mulling the consequences of suicide bombings earlier this week  in Morocco and Algeria. A group called al-Qaida in the Maghreb attacked two targets in Algiers on Wednesday -- a police station and Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem's office -- killing 30 people and wounding 200 in coordinated suicide explosions. And on Tuesday Moroccan police chased several men wearing bomb belts through the streets of Casablanca. Three blew themselves up, killing a police officer and injuring 21 people; a fourth suspect was reportedly shot and killed by police while fumbling with his explosives.

This sudden swarm of bombings -- perhaps by related groups, who also have contact with the Qaida-linked cell responsible for the Madrid train bombings in 2004 -- has commentators wondering if the Maghreb region of North Africa has become a "springboard" for terrorism that will also, inevitably, come to Europe.

The left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:

"The Maghreb threatens to become the new stage of operations for the international terror network al-Qaida. North Africa's coast lies across a narrow strip of saltwater from Europe: It could become a springboard for attacks in Spain, France and even Germany.

"The United States and Europe have done very little to dampen terrorist activity in North Africa. Hundreds of Maghreb Muslims have moved to Iraq in recent years to fight the American occupation. When these veterans return, they will probably raise the terrorist potential in their homelands. Or they may try --- out of fear of repression at home -- to cross into Western Europe, where they in all probability will manage to settle, though without assimilating. It's known that the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has supporters in Germany, and they won't deny help to the group just because it recently changed its name to al-Qaida in the Maghreb."

The financial daily Handelsblatt writes:

"If al-Qaida has gained a foothold in Algeria, will the terrorist organization now threaten to penetrate Europe through the waves of immigration to France and Spain? Is Europe the next target?"

"These questions were answered, at the latest, on March 11, 2004. The Madrid bombings showed that terrorism won't stop at the Mediterranean.

"But the Europeans and the Americans have been busy for years with strategies of exclusion. North Africa is not really a sexy topic in Western capitals. The European Union has concentrated -- under German pressure -- on debates over its eastward expansion. And the war on terrorism has been focused -- under pressure from the United States -- above all on Islamists in the Middle East.