Were they forced out? There seems an implication in your statement (thought police!) that they were, but I don't see it. The article attracted a great deal of attention to the journal - publishers usually see attention as a big plus. Was it the publisher that punished the editors? Or did they resign in shame after realizing some fundamental problem with their procedures that let this particular article out? It's not exactly clear...

In any case, this "hockey stick" debate is really a peripheral issue to the human causation question. How come there's been no coverage in the US press of the statement this week from the American Geophysical Union - go to agu.org - that strongly states the consensus on this now? This is the major scientific society devoted to study of the Earth!