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Ousted CBS Producer Comes Out Swinging

CBS producer Mary Mapes with British soldiers and a young Afghan in Afghanistan in 2001. (Family Photo)

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Mapes bristled at investigators' questions on whether she is a liberal, but does not hide her zeal in taking on the president.

"Bush didn't keep his promise to the country," Mapes writes. "He swore he would fly military jets until May 1974 . . . ."

Perhaps her greatest fury is reserved for the "vicious" bloggers who pounced on the "60 Minutes II" report within hours -- and who she believes provided the map that major news organizations, including The Washington Post, essentially followed.

"I was attacked, Dan was attacked, CBS was attacked 24 hours a day by people who hid behind screen names," Mapes said. "I may be a flawed journalist, but I put my name on things." Some of the key bloggers, however, posted criticism under their own names.

Mapes said that her home address in Dallas was posted on the Internet and that she worried about her 7-year-old son. "It was scary. We had people coming by the house taking pictures, leaping out of pickups."

A low moment came when her father, from whom she has been estranged for 15 years, publicly accused her of trying to "promote radical feminism." Mapes says he was an abusive alcoholic.

"It was embarrassing," she said. "It made me feel bad. It made me feel I had absolutely no privacy left."

Despite her career implosion, Mapes hopes to stay in journalism.

"It's what I'm good at," she said. "I like making a difference."

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