This is possibly a preemptive move by the NYT. It sets up the "Blame Bush" (or Republicans, or Conservatives, or Christians, or Heterosexuals, or Oil Companies, or whoever it is on their "Demonize du Jour" list) narrative for if any of the weapons are used. They can claim that they weren't 'The WMDs we went to war over", just some rusty old leftover junk that we weren't concerned with.

I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.