Republicans Anonymous

This article was mildly troubling:

U.S. Proposal in the O.A.S. Draws Fire as an Attack on Venezuela
By JOEL BRINKLEY
Published: May 22, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 21 - An American proposal to create a committee at the Organization of American States that would monitor the quality of democracy and the exercise of power in Latin America is facing a hostile reception from many countries in part because it is being viewed as a thinly veiled effort to attack Venezuela.

Roger F. Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and a principal architect of the proposal, said in an interview this week that he was "not surprised they are seeing this in the context of Venezuela," but he added, "I am determined that it not be regarded as some kind of effort to isolate Venezuela."

Last month, however, he and other administration officials made several statements tying the effort directly to their concern about Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's populist, anti-American president. Mr. Chávez has curtailed some press freedoms and judicial independence while forming close ties with Cuba, an alliance that, more than anything else, infuriates some Bush administration officials.
(Source: New York Times [Emphasis added])

THIS article (via Daily Kos' LondonYank), looks like the beginning of the propaganda campaign for Invasion 2007:

During a private meeting between Chavez and Khatami, I was told, Chavez made it known to the Iranian leader that he would like to "introduce nuclear elements into Venezuela." My contact said "nuclear elements" meant "nuclear weapons."
(Source: Douglas MacKinnon, Is Venezuela going nuclear?, Houston Chronicle, May 21, 2005 [Emphasis added])

Note the use of a single, anonymous source to make an extremely serious charge - hasn't the Houston Chronicle learned anything from the Newsweek episode? Why was such a poorly sourced, inflammatory editorial even printed?