MEA CULPA FROM THE TIMES

Jack Shafer was correct yesterday when he reported in Slate that The New York Times was preparing an "Editors' Note" reassessing "its pre-Iraq War coverage, particularly its coverage of weapons of mass destruction." Finding < EM>the note online took a bit of searching on the Times Web site. But it appears in plain view on the bottom of page 10 in the print edition:

We have examined the failings of American and allied intelligence, especially on the issue of Iraq's weapons and possible Iraqi connections to international terrorists. We have studied the allegations of official gullibility and hype. It is past time we turned the same light on ourselves.

The note cites five examples of "problematic articles" by date -- two in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, on Oct. 26, 2001 (about an alleged meeting in Prague between an Iraqi agent and Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 terrorists, which was discounted a year later) and on Nov. 8, 2001 (about an alleged Iraqi terrorist training camp that has never been verified).

Though the note doesn't say so, those articles gave momentum to the conflation of "the war on terror" with Saddam Hussein, which the Bush gang exploited to the max to justify its invasion of Iraq. To this day, according  to various polls, much of the American public still believes the idea that Iraq was guilty of involvement with the 9/11 attacks.

Incorrect reports in the Times also gave misinformation about the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which should have been checked more carefully and challenged by editors before being published, the note says. Much of that misinformation was supplied by self-promoting Iraqi defectors lobbying for "regime change," especially Ahmad Chalabi, whose motives should have opened their allegations to doubt. That misinformation was "often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq," the note adds.

That sublime irony deepens rather than mitigates the errors, as does the fact that subsequent reports acknowledging or clarifying some of the misinformed coverage were played much less conspicuously than the original misinformation.

Shafer has been on the case for a long time, especially going after Judith Miller's misleading reports about weapons of mass destruction. She was not mentioned by name in the editors' note, however, nor were any other reporters or editors. The note says more reporting will be done that is "aimed at setting the record straight." It also offers readers a chance to delve more deeply into its erroneous coverage by going to the Times Web site here.

Of the 15 or so misleading reports that are listed online about alleged terrorist training camps and hidden weapons facilities, a quest for A-Bomb components and the controversy surrounding it, and the search for weapons of mass destruction, nine were written or co-written by Miller. Thus the headline on Shafer's piece: "Judy's Turn to Cry."