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Vets Group Wants Kirk to Apologize
A small group of veterans wants an apology from Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk.

Kirk, a member of Congress and of the Navy Reserves, has been caught exaggerating or embellishing some of his military awards or the extent to which he served in combat. He said he "misremembered" when he met with the editorial boards of the Chicago newspapers.

The group Illinois Veterans Against Mark Kirk produced a half-dozen members in Downtown Chicago to express varying degrees of dissatisfaction with Kirk. Members said the organization is not political, and there are no obvious ties to the campaign of Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, though individual members have had varying levels of political involvement. For example, organizer Michael G. Donatelli is the husband of Jan Donattelli, who ran for Congress and lost in the Democratic primary last year in the special election in the Fifth Congressional District.

The group wants Kirk to "come clean" on his embellishments, and to apologize to veterans.

Kirk claimed falsely that he served in the Gulf War, that he once commanded the Pentagon war room and that he came under fire while flying intelligence missions over Iraq . He also claimed to have won an "intelligence officer of the year" award which was actually an award given to his entire unit.

The veterans who spoke in Chicago said Kirk's true military record is admirable, but that service members should never exaggerate.

(Illinois Radio Network)
06 08 10 by Newsroom
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