Dan? Heck, We Don't Expect Him to Understand What He's Given to Read.

After all, they only pay Dan Rather $7 million a year, why would he bear any responsibility for the fiasco?

After releasing a 224-page report submitted to him by the independent panel, Leslie Moonves, co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, the network's parent company, announced today that he had fired Mary Mapes, the longtime CBS producer who had prepared the segment.

Mr. Moonves also announced that he was demanding the resignations of three CBS News executives who had overseen the segment. They are Betsy West, a senior vice president and a top deputy to Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News; Josh Howard, who had become executive producer of the Wednesday edition of "60 Minutes" only weeks before it broadcast the disputed segment; and Mary Murphy, his deputy.