PARIS (AP) – The nations of the world joined yesterday in solemn remembrance of September 11 – but for many, resentment of the United States flowed as readily as tears.

Critics say Americans have squandered the goodwill that prompted France’s Le Monde newspaper to proclaim “We are all Americans” the day after the attacks, and that the Iraq war and other US policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.

In Europe, where Islamic terror has struck twice since 9/11, in the Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks, the silent tributes were tinged with doubts and recriminations.

Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel – an advocate of repairing ties with Washington that were frayed under her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder – had veiled criticism of the United States, saying: “The ends cannot justify the means”.

“In the fight against international terror … respect for human rights, tolerance and respect for other cultures must be the maxim of our actions, along with decisiveness and international cooperation,” she said.

Adding to the global jitters, a top al-Qaeida leader warned of “new events” in a videotape that appeared to be new.

“You gave us every legitimacy and every opportunity to continue fighting you,” said al-Qaeida number two Ayman al-Zawahri, addressing the US in the video aired by CNN. “You should worry about your presence in the (Persian) Gulf and the second place you should worry about is Israel.”

For many, the anniversary was a reminder of how starkly the world has changed since terrorists hijacked four airliners, crashing two into New York’s World Trade Centre, one into the Pentagon and another into a Pennsylvania field.

The quagmire in Iraq, democratic governments with unprecedented powers to spy on citizens, the fear of terror as part of the daily grind, fears of an impending “clash of civilisations” between Islam and the West: all of these have become part of our new global reality.

Allies in the US-led war on terrorism renewed their resolve yesterday to fight fanaticism, while skeptics countered that they can no longer follow a superpower they say has relinquished its right to lead.

“Right after September 11 the world was united with Americans. Their moral leadership was unquestioned,” Pawel Zalewski, head of the Polish parliament’s foreign relations committee, wrote in comments published yesterday in Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily. “However, this strong moral authority was abused as a result of the Iraq war.”

Exactly five years after its message of solidarity, Le Monde splashed on its Sunday-Monday front page: “Controversy: George Bush Brandishes the Threat of Terrorism, the Democrats Criticise him over Iraq.”

Its lead editorial was called “The Mistakes of Bush”.

On Sunday, the US president and his wife, Laura, stood wordless after laying wreaths where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre once soared. He later pledged “renewed resolve” to remember the lessons of September 11.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani wrote Bush on behalf of the Iraqi people, expressing condolences to the families of September 11 victims.

“On this sad and memorable day, I would like to reiterate the gratitude of the people of Iraq for the people of America and for your leadership,” Talabani wrote. “The people of Iraq will never forget those who helped them in getting rid of the most brutal and terrorist regime of Saddam Hussein.”

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Helen Clark joined many when she said: “No, we’re not more secure since 9/11.”

Clark said more should be done to reach out to moderate states and leaders in the Islamic world to encourage understanding between different peoples, and to help end the sense of alienation and exclusion among some young Muslims that fuels extremism.

There were dignified ceremonies across Europe. Bells tolled in Rome’s city hall square. In London, bouquets of white roses and yellow carnations were piled in a memorial garden where the names of 67 Britons killed in the New York attacks are inscribed.

At a 38-nation Asia-Europe summit in Helsinki, Finland, leaders stood in silence in a circle. The stock exchanges in Nordic and Baltic countries observed two minutes of silence to honour the victims of the world’s worst terror attacks.

“September 11 will be in our memory forever,” said Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni during a ceremony in the a downtown piazza designed by Michelangelo. “We all remember where we were, what we were doing, what our first reaction was.”

France’s President Jacques Chirac, in Helsinki, sent a written message to Bush reiterating his nation’s “friendship” in the fight against terrorism.

A week after the Sept 11 attacks, Chirac flew over the desecration of the World Trade Centre – the first foreign leader to pay personal condolences. That solidarity quickly dissipated into rancor in the build-up to the Iraq war, when Chirac led opposition to Bush’s plans.

Israel’s Haaretz daily expressed disappointment and cynicism in an opinion piece yesterday that said: “This is September 11 five years later: a political tool in the hands of the Bush administration.”

In Southeast Asia, US and Philippine troops fighting Islamic extremists in the jungles prayed for peace and safety, as other remembrances took place in Japan, Australia, Finland, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who won the country’s first post-Taliban election in 2004, expressed the appreciation of the Afghan people to the US for the “sacrifices of your sons and daughters” in rebuilding his country. But on the streets in the capital, Kabul, many Afghans grumbled that they had not seen much improvement.

In neighbouring Pakistan, considered a major ally in the US-led war on terror, newspapers ran bleak-toned opinion columns and editorials criticising Western anti-terror policies and attitudes.