If you read the entire NYTimes article you'll find that the documents were posted at the behest of Congressional GOP leaders to prove that Iraq was indeed still trying to create a nuclear weapon which, of course, Iraq, the Times, Hans Blix, the UN, etc. all said Saddam Hussein was not doing. This story is clearly a liberal spin job and we are led to believe that the only documents on the website were these that are helpful to Iran. Of course, these documents would be helpful to any entity but the Times says helpful to Iran because there's more bang for the liberal buck that way.
Trust me when I tell you this pre-election surprise is a flat-out bust. The Times knows it and that's why they waited until Friday to run it.