The Public Editor BAD mistakes happen even at the best newspapers, and public editors should usually watch for patterns rather than single out a specific incident. But when a Times front-page article highlighting the sensitive detainee-abuse aspect of the Iraq war turned out to be fatally flawed, it seemed to me that a closer look at the journalistic practices involved was warranted. The March 11 article profiled a man who said he was the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner famously photographed about two years ago, standing on a box with wires attached to his extended hands. The article included an interview...