Iran nuclear forgeries?

I had seen the article on the supposed "smoking gun" memo on the Iranian nuclear program (that claimed research on neutron initiators,) but I was skeptical of its veracity, so I didn't link it.

However, I never took the next step to note the possible link and similarities to the (still unsourced) Niger forgeries which were folded so neatly into the Iraq war justification.

Ironically, (because of their history with the Niger forgeries.) it's the NYTimes who is the first publicly ask about the neutron initiator memos.

However, I might argue that the different stance has more to do with the NYTimes "reporting" as fact what any White House says, rather than a renewed journalistic ethic. The Bush White House wanted the Niger forgeries to be true, so the NYTimes covered them as true. The Obama folks want this memo to be false, so the NYTimes writes their skepticism as "reporting."

(It should be noted that the memos first public appearance was in the Times of London, a paper which would be sympathetic to an anti-Iran bent. The "leaker" released to the right source.)

On the other hand, the test of Iran's top missile, which can still barely reach Eastern Europe, is very real and intended as a provocation.