and no birds sang

In the introduction to Canaries in the Mineshaft, published in 2001, Renata Adler offered a scathing analysis of the shift in the New York Times from hard news based upon actual attribution of named sources to news porn lite, floating unattributed on the byline cred of boutique mannikin reporters like, to take an example chosen at random, Judith Miller.

Evidently by 2002, the canaries in the mineshaft between Cheney's bunker and the Times were too unhealthy to do much chirping, when this Smoking Gun hit the front page of the JuicePaper of Record on Sept. 8:

Hard-liners are alarmed that American intelligence underestimated the pace and scale of Iraq's nuclear program before Baghdad's defeat in the gulf war. Conscious of this lapse in the past, they argue that Washington dare not wait until analysts have found hard evidence that Mr. Hussein has acquired a nuclear weapon. The first sign of a ''smoking gun,'' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud.

And the first sign of a mushroom cloud may be a talk with Mr. Libby.

By the way,

• The word "official" or "officials" is used 30 times in the course of this article (which contains 3400 + words), most often coupled with forms of the verb "to say."
• Proper names including "Cheney," "Rove," "Libby" and "Chalabi," do not appear in the article.
• The word "experts" appears seven times, usually with a form of "to say."

More here, here, here, here, here, here. Via Wealth Bondage.