Senate candidate Kirk says award was for his entire military unit

[YBR31]

Source: Daily Herald

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk has admitted to misstating an award on his military resume, a key plank in the Highland Park Republican's high-profile campaign for Senate. Kirk has claimed for years to have received the Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year award for service during the Serbian conflict in the late 1990s.In fact, Kirk recently conceded on his blog that he wasn't honored with that award. He said it was "misidentified" and should have been listed as the "Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year award for outstanding support provided during Operation Allied Force."

...

One of the key differences between the awards is that the official Navy honor is bestowed on an individual and the Rufas Taylor award is given to the unit....

Aside from his resume, Kirk similarly misstated the award at a 2002 House committee hearing. In a remark recorded by C-SPAN, he said, "I was the Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year,"

......



Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384621

[Drunken Irishman]

1. I expect Tuesday (since Monday is a holiday) Chris Matthews will spend his entire show on this!

[FrenchieCat]

2. Don't hold your breath!

[SpiralHawk]

7. Republicons are 'special'

and held to a different 'standard'

So expect doodley squat.

[The Magistrate]

3. 'Republican Candidate Caught Lying About War Service!' Is the Proper Head-Line, Sir

The fault is the newspaper's, of course, not yours....

[No Elephants]

6. Correct. Media stink.

[DarthDem]

4. So Unlike Blumenthal

. . . this clown has been actively fomenting these lies for years and years and years. Not just a slipup. Interestingly, I think this will hurt him severely in the GE.

[tomm2thumbs]

5. these idiots think that everywhere they write, someone is following along with an eraser

I think they are doing that in their own heads

[Historic NY]

8. Simple let him show us his plaque & certificate.

[scentopine]

9. demand to see his papers and birth certificate -nt

[TacticalPeek]

10. "One of the key differences between the awards"

THE key difference is that the one he lied about getting comes from the U.S. Navy. The one he got actually came from a civilian group of boosters. Big fucking difference.

This poorly written/researched article reflects no knowledge of this difference, and in fact it implies the opposite.

Fail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Intelligence_Professionals

[Judi Lynn]

11. Illinois Republican Senate candidate admits to error on Navy award

Source: Washington Post

Illinois Republican Senate candidate admits to error on Navy award
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Republican candidate for President Obama's old Senate seat inaccurately claimed to have received the U.S. Navy's Intelligence Officer of the Year award for service during NATO's conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s.

Rep. Mark Kirk, a Navy reservist elected to Congress in 2001, acknowledged the error in his official biography after The Washington Post began looking into whether he had received the prestigious award, which is given by top Navy officials to a single individual annually. The Post's inquiries were sparked by complaints from a representative of state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Kirk's Democratic opponent in the Illinois Senate race.

Kirk, an Appropriations Committee member, changed his Web site last week to incorporate a different account of the award. Kirk wrote on his blog that "upon a recent review of my records, I found that an award listed in my official biography was misidentified" and that the award he had intended to list was given to his entire unit.

A professional group, the National Military Intelligence Association, gave Kirk's unit -- based in Aviano, Italy -- an award for outstanding service in 2000. The association's Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Award celebrates "the exceptional achievements of an outstanding Naval Intelligence career professional," but the citation does not mention Kirk and instead designates the entire Intelligence Division Electronic Attack Wing at Aviano.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/29/AR2010052903510.html?wprss=rss_politics

[IndianaGreen]

12. Isn't that special!

I wonder if Congress will pass a law making this a crime as well.

[skepticscott]

13. Translation: Mark Kirk lied about his credentials

to try to make himself look more manly, and fessed up only after he got caught.

[LiberalFighter]

14. That suggests the possibility that he played at best a minor part in the award.

Quite possibly the unit received the award because of the actions of others within his unit and he was just a lazy bum. Maybe he helped them win the award by stepping out and taking a leak so he wouldn't get in the way.