What could this possibly mean? What could we possibly conclude from this?
Indeed. Sounds like a certain reporter was "on board" with the plan right from the beginning.
Woodward was also used to promulgate the immensely useful myth of Powell the hand-wringing peacenik dove on Iraq. See the last chapter of Bush at War. Especially viewed from our current vantage point, the whole gambit seems almost laughably transparent. But, like the man said, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.