The New York Times owes readers an explanation for Judith Miller's faulty WMD reporting.

I spent several hours interviewing Judith Miller for my article, and another hour patiently reading back to her all of her comments for approval, as I had agreed. Whenever she requested, I amended her quotes. I particularly remember reading back the quote in question. If Ms. Miller felt it was inaccurate or misleading in any way, she could have asked that it be changed, and it would have been. But she approved it.

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And if the Times acts quickly, I'll even buy the beer for the special-projects team investigating Miller's work. Send me a drink at pressbox@hotmail.com. (E-mail may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Correction, Feb. 13, 2004:A one-sentence comment by Daniel Okrent that was mistaken by Jack Shafer as part of Miller's letter was removed two hours after posting. Return to the corrected passage.