Free Republic

This is huge! Leading UK newspaper reports that the Pentagon's inspector general is going to investigate ALL of Kerry's decorations and citations. John Lehmann quoted as saying he never signed Silver Start citation in 1986.

In a fresh blow to John Kerry's flagging presidential campaign, the Pentagon has ordered an official investigation into the awarding of the Democratic senator's five Vietnam War decorations. News of the inquiry came as two of the first polls released since last week's Republican convention said President George Bush had opened an 11-point lead over his rival - the widest margin since serious campaigning began. The inquiry is to be carried out by the Inspector-General's office of the US Navy, for which Senator Kerry served as a Swift Boat captain for four months in 1968, making two tours of duty....

Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley said Sunday that if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid. Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not." "If so," said the "Tour of Duty" author, "Kerry would have to fix it immediately -...