A pathology at work. The lead in today's top NY Times story expresses the official version of why the Iraqis are demonstrating against the presence of U.S. troops in their country: It's all Saddam's fault.

Islamic religious passions long suppressed under Saddam Hussein escalated today in Karbala, a city holy to the country's majority Shiites, while here in the capital Iraqis awaited material help from the United States but were wary of American political influence. Full story>>

The underlying premise appears to be that the anger and resentment is being displayed solely because we have restored "freedom" to the Iraqis after 25 years of tyranny and they are irresponsibly going hog wild with it. This self-serving rationale echoes in many other mainstream media. Ignore the man behind the curtain. Don't look here. Look over there. Blame the previous administration.

There is a pathology at work here. So far, the U.S. war-promoters and justifiers have blamed everyone but themselves for what's wrong with this situation. Sadly, the public appears to be accepting and internalizing this official version of reality.

This is an ancient pathology. You often sometimes when alleged murderers testify for themselves at trial. Americans seldom buy such blame society, blame the accomplice, blame the victim alibis when they hear them in criminal court. Why would they accept it here?

Most likely, because it's themselves in the dock this time.