The Navy says Mark Kirk is lying.

The man is saying he served in Iraqi Freedom when he, well, didn't. Who says? The Navy. I called up the Navy Office of Information and left a message. Unlike the half dozen calls I've made to Matt Towson, the press secretary for Mark Kirk (847.940.0202), the Office of Information actually got back to me. I spoke to a very helpful Ms. Van. After explaining the situation to her -- without naming names -- she agreed with me that there is no way Mark Kirk should be claiming to have served in Iraqi Freedom. She actually laughed when I said that he could be claiming his weekend drill periods and two-week annual training at the Pentagon as meeting that requirement. Ms. Van's bemused final answer? "Someone would have had to serve in Iraq to have served in Iraqi Freedom."

There is more:

[Kirk's] original bio read: The Navy named Kirk “Intelligence Officer of the Year” in 1999 for his combat service in Kosovo. But the WaPo story says this about his Naval service record: An official summary of Kirk's military service, released to The Post by the Navy last week, lists other awards and decorations, including two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medals, a Joint Meritorious Unit Award, a Navy Unit Commendation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, and a National Defense Service medal. It's possible they left it out, but that list doesn't include a Navy Combat Action Ribbon, which Kirk should have earned if he'd had "combat service." In fact, despite years of claiming he'd earned this award for "combat service," Kirk has tacitly admitted that he didn't perform combat service. The web site which once mentioned his grandiose award now says: Kirk was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his Kosovo service in 1999. The phrase "combat service" is conspicuously absent.

Furthermore, Kirk repeatedly claimed he was "Intelligence Officer of the Year", which is an award that doesn't even exist. So how did he explain it away?

Kirk's story changed from yesterday afternoon to today. Yesterday, his website claimed he won something called the Rufus Taylor Intelligence Unit of the Year Award. He didn't identify the sponsor of the award. Many felt the award was from Naval Intelligence Professionals (NIP) which gives out a Rufus Taylor Award for Naval Intelligence Junior Officers of the Year Award and the Rufus Taylor Award for Naval Intelligence Instruction. However, today, Kirk's senate website explanation page has changed. He now claims the award is not from the Navy or NIP, but from The National Military Intelligence Association. Kirk's current specific claim is described on his page. The notice begins with what a reading from the citation Kirk posted yesterday. "while serving as aviation intelligence officer for Electronic Attack Squadron Two Zero Nine from 10 April to 6 June 1999…He took charge of four deployed squadron’s intelligence assets and personnel and forged them into an outstanding intelligence shop." It was this work that won the nomination and selection of the United States Navy Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Intelligence Award. Furthermore, the Post story inaccurately portrays the Rufus Taylor award as a non-Navy award. In fact, the United States Navy Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Intelligence Award is nominated and selected by the U.S. Navy. It is then awarded by the National Military Intelligence Association. That National Military Intelligence Association is a 503(c)(6) not-for-profit professional development organization. It provides corporate memberships and seems to be a group that facilitates corporate and academic involvement in the intelligence community.

It's not a Navy award. It's a Military Industrial Complex award. But even then, it wasn't an award for Kirk, or even his specific squadron. It was for the entire wing.

The award was given to the entire Attack Wing. Kirk was in Squadron Two Zero Nine, a small part of the Attack Wing. There were many squadrons in the Attack Wing. The Rufus Taylor award claims it was for 717 combat sorties. Kirk's citation and the above description of the 1999 activities of Electronic Attack Squadron TWO ZERO NINE talk about 150 combat flights. So, Kirk was a small part of the operation that won the Rufus Taylor Award. He claimed it was his award.

Specifically, that attack wing has seven squadrons.

So to recap, Kirk lied about being a combat vet.

He also lied about being intelligence officer of the year. And when called on it, he claimed he got this Rufus L. Taylor award, except it wasn't for him, it was for the entire attack wing, of which his squadron was 1/7th of the unit.

Finally, the Kirk campaign is pointing to a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal to prove ... something. That medal is the second-lowest ranking medal in the military. It's just a step up from the Achievement Medal. Half the people I served with had one. They were handed out like candy when I served. I may even have one (I'd have to double check to make sure). It's not a big deal (in military terms).

What is a big deal is that Kirk took a Commendation Medal and an award given to an entire squadron (of which he was a small part), and he suddenly became a combat vet who was the "Intelligence Officer of the Year". And it wasn't just a typo on a website or one out-of-context slip up. It was part of his ongoing campaign schtick.

Finally, Kirk claims he found out about the fake award and bullshit claims of combat service "upon a recent review of my records" spurred on by the Blumenthal controversy. Yet another lie.

It was this local blogger who found him out.

Kirk's response to all that? It'll likely be something about Giannoulias giving money to mobsters. And a bank!