The story is, of course, furiously spinning. The author is careful to give the impression to the casual reader that these were all old munitions but in the body of the story it is clear that they were not, and that precursors and ingredients had been purchased by Saddam right up to the invasion. Pretty much as we said then and ever since.
There is, in this, no sense on the part of the Times that they have been merrily pretending otherwise, or criticism of anyone who parroted the party line that there was never anything there or if there was, it was our fault. The cold facts are that if things are as the author describes the munitions were dangerous then and they are dangerous now, and that Saddam's main facility falling into the hands of ISIS wasn't the non-event it was portrayed as.
Gruesome photos may show ISIS using chemical weapons on Kurds, report says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3214671/posts
It would be ironic if Obama puts boots on the ground to get rid of this very “old” stuff that Bush's Pentagon kept secret. But if you do a very shallow search you can find all of this:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/05/17/sarin-mustard-gas-discovered-separately-in-iraq/
http://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/iraq-sarin-stockpiles-found/story-e6frfkui-1111112124958
Now the NYT has to spin this:
http://www.inquisitr.com/1309825/isis-in-iraq-find-saddam-husseins-wmd-stockpiles-of-chemical-weapons-george-w-bush-was-right/
All those 50 gallon drums of “insecticide” securely stored on an Iraqi airbase that was apparently where Iraqi Orkin guys typically store their civilian bug spray. /s