Nah, it was Bush's fault.
But it would be the ultimate conspiracy plot...maybe they didn't have a time machine. Maybe it was just a bunch of bored reporters who started a secret society with mystic handshakes, and hidden meanings, who decided that they would pass the secret down to their initiants only, and have them write all these red herring investigations. Why?? Who knows?
Perhaps it was so that in the year 2006 they could blame Bush?