[B Knotts]

No, I think that the NYT article was just an attempt to separate Bush from his conservative base.

That may be the case for some, but I think you are confusing criticism for abandonment. In this case, it appears that the criticism had exactly the desired result: the President acknowledged as much by distancing himself from the report today.

[Eva]

The point that you are missing is that, as Bush stated, the report was nothing more than a creation of bureaucrats (probably all leftover from the Clinton administration). It really had nothing to do with the Bush administration.