What if the single pivotal event of one's life - the moment that altered one's entire course, illuminating the path ahead, providing that critical psychological turning point - turned out to have been an invention of one's very own?

I realize that's a convoluted question, but it's hard to discuss today's political events any other way. Convolution defines the story of Sen. John Kerry as told by voices from a haunted past Kerry doubtless now wishes he'd left behind. Instead, he made his four-and-a-half-month tour of duty in Vietnam 35 years ago the centerpiece of his campaign against self-declared "war president" George W. Bush.

To follow the "he said/he said" bouncing ball of Kerry's military career, one needs patience and a strong dose of Dramamine. One group of veterans applauds Kerry's bravery and leadership, citing his three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

Another group, Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, claims in a new book, "Unfit for Command," that Kerry exaggerated his acts of heroism, fabricated some events and sought Purple Hearts for minor wounds, at least one of which was self-inflicted. Some have questioned the latter group's credibility given its financial backing by a prominent Texas Republican, while others have praised the authors' careful documentation.

Like many Americans, I'm reluctant to second-guess anyone's wartime performance. None of us knows how we'd perform under the unique stress of battle. Whether Kerry was indecisive or heroic so long ago doesn't much interest me. Stories get told about war; details get lost or distorted by time and memory.

There's something near tragic about this latest political turn of events - brother warring against brother - but also revelatory on a level that even Kerry critics might not have anticipated. What is revealed isn't so much Kerry's lack of consistency in reporting personal history as his studious pursuit of power and an insatiable need for attention.

The pivotal moment in Kerry's life, according to his many testimonials on the subject, was Christmas of 1968, when, he has said, he was in Cambodia. This experience was central to his later becoming a war protester and to his lighting out on a political path destined to culminate in a rise to the U.S. presidency.

Speaking on the Senate floor in 1986 and in interviews through the years, Kerry reiterated how compelling his Cambodia experience was, how it illuminated his vision and guided his insight on foreign policy.

"I remember what it was like to be shot at by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia," he told his fellow senators. "I have that memory which is seared - seared - in me." Continued...