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WASHINGTON — A report that one of a group of veterans opposing Senator John F. Kerry’s bid for the presidency had said he made a mistake signing an affidavit questioning Kerry’s medals rocketed around the airwaves yesterday, sparking a backlash on conservative radio programs and the Drudge Report website.

The programs asserted that retired Lieutenant Commander George Elliott had been misquoted in yesterday’s Boston Globe when he said he had made a “terrible mistake” in signing an affidavit suggesting Kerry did not deserve to be awarded the Silver Star. Kerry was awarded the medal for killing a Viet Cong soldier.

The Globe quoted Elliott, who was Kerry’s commanding officer during the war, as saying he was under “time pressure” when he signed the document and still believes Kerry deserved the Silver Star for his service. The affidavit was released ahead of the publication of a new book that questions whether Kerry should have been given some of his combat medals.