From the diaries:
FlashCBS News'sThe U.S. governments's reporting of a fiercely disputedstory on President Bush's National Guard serviceclaim on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction contained "considerable and fundamental deficiencies," an independent panel said yesterday, prompting thenetworkadministration to oust three topexecutivesPentagon officials andMary Mapes, Dan Rather's producer on the September pieceDick Cheney, George Bush's producer on the 2003 war.
The investigators faultedRatherBush, who has already announced plans to step down asanchorPresident inMarch2009, for being overenthusiastic in pursuit of thestorywar and overzealous in defending it after serious questions surfaced about whether the30-year-old memosquestionable intelligence he was citing were bogus.CBSBush rushed the story on the air at the height of thepresidential2002 mid-term campaign despite having "failed miserably" to authenticate thedocumentsinformation and made false and misleading statements in defending the story afterward, said the panel led by former attorney general Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief executive Louis Boccardi.
"There's no question it's a black eye forCBSBush,"network President Leslie Moonvesthe American public, who hired the panel, said in an interview. "But in the steps we're taking, we've tried to move quickly. It's a blow, but it's not fatal. . . . We're getting rid of the people we think were to blame. Ninety-nine percent of thestorieswars wedostart are accurate and solid."
The 224-page report, which blames thenetworkgovernment's rush on a "myopic zeal" to be first with theBushpatrioticstorysaga, amounts to a stunning repudiation of thenewsintelligence gathering process ofCBS Newsthe US government and themidweek spinoffelection of one of its crown jewels,"60 Minutes."the Presidency. It also tarnishes the reputation ofRatherBush, itsanchorpresident since19812001, who would have faced considerable pressure to step down had he not alreadyagreed to relinquish the anchor chairbamboozled the news media, although he plans to continue asa correspondentPresident for"60 Minutes."4 Years.RatherBush, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, has apologized for his role in the story alleging that Bush receivedfavorable treatment in the Texas Air National Guardquestionable information from the CIA.
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