I have listened to this story for weeks now, trying to get a handle on just what he is being accused of?
When Kirk was claiming the Intelligence Officer of the Year award (something he was not awarded), he said it was for “combat service in Kosovo.” Now, it merely says “for service in Kosovo” and a recent list of his awards in the Washington Post did not include a Combat Action Ribbon nor a “v” device, which would actually designate him a combat veteran.
Did Kirk serve in Desert Storm as he claims?
No. He completed three tours of duty aboard the USS Stennis, four tours of duty supporting counter-narcotics operations in Panama, and worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington DC during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Kirk served honorably. He did an important job, and by all accounts did it well. So why the need to embellish?
To say you have served in a campaign is precisely the sort of falsehood for which Richard Blumenthal had been castigated for. Blumenthal repeatedly pointed out in speeches that he had served “during” Vietnam–but with that one noteable slip-up–and then corrected the record when the mistake was pointed out.
Kirk’s two-week trips to Afghanistan do not qualify him as a “veteran” of Enduring Freedom either as he claims. If he can’t claim the “Afghanistan Campaign Medal,” he can’t claim to be a veteran of that conflict.
The decoration is awarded to any member of the U.S. military who has performed duty within the borders of Afghanistan (or its airspace) for a period of thirty consecutive days or sixty non-consecutive days.
Kirk acknowledged that his campaign’s promotion of him coming under fire while flying aboard an intelligence reconnaissance plane in Iraq may not be correct because there is no record of whether his aircraft was being fired upon.
By “his campaign’s promotion of him coming under fire while flying aboard an intelligence reconnaissance plane,” what Kirk really means is “that thing I said with my own mouth.”
Now the DoD Under Secretary suggest Mark Kirk broke the law. The DoD memo states…
Ordinarily this acknowledgment (waiver) must be completed within 15 days of entering active duty. Because of the short period of active duty and concerns arising from his partisan political activities during his last two tours of active duty, Commander Kirk must complete this form prior to his entry on active duty.
WTF!?!?!
Is this memo the first evidence of official Department of Defense acknowledgment that Kirk violated regulations against political activity while on active duty?
I get the feeling he’s been lying in ways great and small about his career ever since he started running for office.
*EDIT*
Recap –
Kirk
- Falsely claimed he served “in” Operation Iraqi Freedom;
- Falsely claimed to “command the war room in the Pentagon”;
- Falsely claimed to have won the U.S. Navy’s Intelligence Officer of the Year award;
- Falsely claimed to have been shot at by the Iraqi Air Defense network;
- Falsely claimed to be a veteran of Desert Storm;
- Falsely claimed to be the only lawmaker to serve during Operation Iraqi Freedom; and
- Falsely claimed to have been shot at in Kosovo; and
- Falsely claimed to have been shot at in Kandahar.
The Pentagon said this week that Kirk “twice violated military policy by participating in political activities while on active duty — once in 2008 and once in 2009.”
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