Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004 2:16 a.m. EDT
Navy Launches Second Kerry Medal Probe
The U.S. Navy has launched a new probe into Sen. John Kerry's Silver Star citation, after the Navy Secretary whose signature appears on the document said he never signed the award.
"It is a total mystery to me," former Navy Secretary John Lehman told the Chicago Sun-Times in August.
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"I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he complained.
The Lehman document is the last of three versions of Kerry Silver Star citation that have been posted to Kerry's campaign website.
On Friday, Navy Inspector General Adm. R. A. Route closed out a superficial probe into the circumstances of Kerry's war decorations; one that verified only that appropriate procedures were followed when the commendations were issued.
But Monday's New York Post reported: "Lehman's disavowal of citation No. 3 has prompted a separate investigation."
Word of the second Kerry medals probe comes as complaints escalate over the top Democrat's refusal to authorize the release of his full military file.
Last week he told radio host Don Imus that all the Navy records he had in his possession had been posted to the campaign web site.
But Imus never asked why Kerry hadn't signed Form 180, which would authorize the release of nearly 100 pages from his military file which remain under seal.
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