NEW YORK — The New York Times editorial on June 30, "The First Deadline," showed America's egocentrism at its worst. Dealing entirely with a single subject — the withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraqi cities, with 130,000 soldiers still remaining in the country — the lengthy commentary showed the blind hubris the United States often displays on the world stage. The declamation would have been comical were it not for the fact that the matter had to do with the slaughtering of thousands upon thousands of people.

The editorial simply rated George W. Bush's cowboy invasion of Iraq as "an unnecessary war," as if it were a board game. It then, amazingly, went on to devote the rest of the large space to scolding Iraqis and their neighboring countries for their shortcomings.

Thus the editorial blamed the Iraqi Army for not being ready to take over for the invading troops — the American troops — that bludgeoned into the country and tore apart its society. The Iraqi military is "plagued by corruption, discipline problems, equipment shortages and security breaches," the complaint went, even as the commentary congratulated Americans for giving incompetent Iraqis "military training programs" that get "good marks" from "most analysts." Why the U.S. military is training another country's military is the question never asked.