Willikers. The New York Times is reporting, right on page one and everything, that Saddam Hussein really had a nuclear weapons program after all! I bet they feel kind of silly for saying he didn’t all these years. A full retraction is no doubt being penned right now.

Most Americans will feel righteous outrage, and call for heads to roll. But in light of their belated yet welcome admission of guilt, we recommend leniency for the Times editors, and for their accomplices in spreading the whole “Bush Lied” slander, Joe Wilson and David Corn and the rest. We would rather see them rehabilitated than pilloried. A slap on the wrist and deportation should be adequate punishment.