Everybody shared it with 'the audience'. The WMDs were obviously not there, were they? Hard to keep it up.

Everyone in the government was saying they were there. Not reporting that would be negligent. Should NYT have been faster at reporting the truth? Of course. But when the president says there are weapons of mass destruction you report as much.

The NYT retracted the story, which is pretty much all I can hope for in a situation like this.