In other words, Brinkley already has a pretty good idea what this probe will uncover.
Exactly. The question about the combat disinguishing device "V" on the Silver Star in Kerry's DD214 is a non-issue. It would only be redundant and not add any additional luster to the award. It would be a serious matter if the device were added to the Bronze Star or Navy Commendation Medal, if the citation did not specifially authorize it. No harm, no foul as far as the Silver Star is concerned.
What I want the Pentagon to investigate is the first PH, which was issued, to the best of our knowledge, without a casualty report and an after action report. We need to know the chronology of that award and who authorized it.
As far as the Lehman signatures are concerned (autopen), the Kerry camp claims that these were for replacement citations in 1986. Besides checking out why Kerry was just not issued copies of the original citations (Hyland for the Silver and Zumwalt for the Bronze)and why the last sentence of the SS was altered, we need to know if Kerry also received replacement medals. This would be the big story since Kerry claimed that he never threw them away after initially saying he did in 1971. Now we are told that they were someone else's medals and his ribbons. According to Kerry, medals and ribbons are interchangeable.
Brinkley's doing a "what did I know and when did I know it?" and effectively exonerating himself.
If the words of another famous poster here:
EggsAckley!
I only had to go to post 7 to find what I wanted to say.