Kirk apologizes for misstating military record

[Illuminated Profile]

Thu Jun 3, 7:41 pm ET

CHICAGO – Illinois Senate candidate Mark Kirk apologized Thursday for erroneous statements about his military record and acknowledged more discrepancies during a meeting with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board, the newspaper reported.

"I am sorry, absolutely," Kirk said during the meeting. "You should speak with utter precision."

The Republican, who is competing with Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for the Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama, also acknowledged two new cases where his public statements didn't match reality.

Kirk said 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.

He also acknowledged a letter sent out by his congressional district office last year described him as a member of Operation Desert Storm, though he did not participate in that effort.

Kirk was expected to talk to The Associated Press on Thursday evening.

The furor over Kirk's military record took off last week when he acknowledged that, contrary to his many statements over the years, he hadn't won the Navy's award for intelligence officer of the year.

Amid media inquiries to the Navy, Kirk corrected his resume to show he actually received a different award, one that went to his unit instead of him personally.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_ ... enate_kirk

Left or Right we need less of this