THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT: The Washington Post's editorial and op-ed pages have become far superior to those of the New York Times. An example is the Post's editorial regarding the Nuclear Posture Review. While not flawless, its critcism is far more measured and intelligent than the New York Times' hysterical outburst on the same topic.
If the Times' editors had actually given the matter any thought, it would have realized that with regard to the possibility of nuclear retalitation against Iraq or North Korea:
For more than a decade, the United States has sought to deter rogue states from using weapons of mass destruction by publicly suggesting that it might respond with a nuclear strike, and Pentagon planners have backed the threat by laying out theoretical targeting plans for Iraq, Iran and other such states. The policy, which the Clinton administration continued from the first Bush presidency, has been a success: Saddam Hussein, who used chemical weapons against his own people in the 1980s, did not dare to employ them against U.S. troops or allies during or after the Persian Gulf War. You wouldn't know it from recent scaremongering headlines and overheated rhetoric, but in this aspect the Bush review has merely reaffirmed a sensible strategy.
Note to NYT editors: "Recent scaremongering headlines and overheated rhetoric" - that's you.