an article on Thursday about British prewar intelligence on Iraq misstated the location cited by President Bush in his State of the Union address when he talked about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium. Basing his comments on a British report, the president said Iraq had made those efforts in Africa. He did not specifically mention Niger, though that country was identified several weeks earlier — along with Somalia and Congo — in the National Intelligence Estimate provided to members of Congress on Iraqi purchase attempts.

New York Times, Corrections, July 20, 2004

These have got to be the most-reported-on 16 words in the history of State of the Union addresses. At least one short-lived media career and several journalistic ones have been launched and now crashed over them. They served as the basis for virtually the entire "Bush LIED!!!!" hysteria that the Left has used to discredit the administration and the President. They received months of front-page coverage when apparently untrue, and several days of middle-page below-the-fold discussion when proven correct.

And yet the Times got them wrong. Amazing.