Yeah, but ... once your own experts tell you the thing is live, and will go off 2 hours from now, do you strap it on? Or do you leave the building?
The way the WaPo story reads, CBS (Mapes at least) knew of the experts' objections well before the story aired. They had filler in case the story didn't check out. It's almost as though they knew they would be caught, the forgeries are that bad.
Maybe they are that stupid. They sure are mean - maybe blinded by their hatred. BUt hey, this story would have been as damaging a week later. Why the big rush? They had a scoop.