Secondly the NYT need not support Assad but I wouldn't be surprised if it's being fed questionable info so that the US can slowly avoid getting sucked into the conflict.
Your revised version is not much more convincing.
Is that what the NYT "is being fed"?
The subtlety of the dish seems to have escaped both me and Executive Editor of the NYT Bill "Iraq-has-WMD" Keller who came out just 3 days ago with a series of arguments for the need to attack Syria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/opinion/keller-syria-is-not-iraq.html?...