well, sure. and we could lock up everyone who says such things. then we'd have exactly what our enemies want us to have -- a dictatorship.
Demanding a retraction is an excellent idea. Let the readership, let the responsible participants in the marketplace of ideas, including the bloggers of repute who see themselves as saviors of truth in media, call upon the NYT to come clean -- to print the retraction.
Top down solutions rarely work. We've got ourself a war -- let's fight it.
I didn;t say say lock everyone up - just everyone at the NYT - or, we could always just use Ann Coulter's suggestion ; )
I'd support your point of view if we weren't talking about an entity that is demonstrably in bed with our enemies during a time of war. First Amendment protections cannot be allowed to apply to parties that are so demonstrably working against the very existence of the state.
Considering the damage done by the NYT's revelations of NSA surveillance I'd very much like to see the Bush DOJ draw up a capital case against "Punch" and any other Timesman/woman involved in giving away this particular state secret. Moreover, the time has long since passed to impress upon the leftist journo pack that similar such transgressions will lead to a heavy and possibly terminal price.