This is the most bizarre "editor's note" I've seen in years.

The Op-Ed page in some copies of Wednesday's newspaper carried an incorrect version of the below article about military recruitment. The article also briefly appeared on NYTimes.com before it was removed. The writer, an Army reserve officer, did not say, "Imagine my surprise the other day when I received orders to report to Fort Campbell, Ky., next Sunday," nor did he characterize his recent call-up to active duty as the precursor to a "surprise tour of Iraq." That language was added by an editor and was to have been removed before the article was published. Because of a production error, it was not. The Times regrets the error. A corrected version of the article appears below.

What the h-e-double hockeysticks was this unnamed editor doing by adding this sort of language to an op-ed? The piece by Phillip Carter urges President Bush to talk more about military service in an effort to help recruiting goals. What the heck does the added language have to do with any of that? This is bad form at best, and bad journalism at worst.