A group of professional jokesters handed out more than a million copies of a fake edition of The New York Times today with the headline "Iraq War Ends."

The paper is dated July 4, 2009, and the price is "free." The REAL Times issued a statement saying "Sorry, folks, the paper isn’t free. And the Iraq war isn’t over, at least not yet."

Taking credit for the expensive spoof are The Yes Men, who were the subject of a 2004 documentary. The Yes Men issued a statement saying the spoof took six months to plan (long before the political conventions but early enough to predict a potential Obama win). They say the newspapers "were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street."

The group even set up a web site to try to look like the real NYT [NYT  7.34    -0.62  (-7.79%)   ]web site, but I haven't had any luck accessing it. I'm sure it's crashing.

The Yes Men NY Times Spoof

Other headlines on the front page include "Nation Sets Its Sights on Building Sane Economy", and "Maximum Wage Law Succeeds". Former Times reporter Alex Jones, now at the Harvard Kennedy School, tells the Times, "I would say if you've got one, hold onto it. It will probably be a collector's item. I'm just glad someone thinks The New York Times print edition is worthy of an elaborate hoax."

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