The NYT's involvement in the Iraq War was not ineptitude, but the intentional passing on of administration claims not only without criticism, but while also excluding and attacking critical voices as borderline seditious.

It was also editorially consistent with the NYT's positions before and after the fact.

Painting Judith Miller and her coworkers as a hapless accident is defaulting to excusing an outlet you identify with. The NYT was not doing good, badly. The NYT was doing bad, knowingly.