Pipe Dreams From My Uncle

Amanda Carpenter brings you up to speed on Barack Obama's latest skirmish with the truth.

Obama told a story about his WWII veteran uncle who allegedly liberated Auschwitz that doesn't appear to be true. He said this while campaigning in New Mexico on Memorial Day. 

According to Obama family lore the uncle spent months in the attic alone upon returning to the US. “Now obviously, something had really affected him deeply, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” Obama said. “That’s why this idea of making sure that every single veteran, when they are discharged, are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and given the mental health services that they need – that’s why it’s so important.”

The problem? Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, not the American brigade.

Obama's actual assertion:

“I had a uncle who was one of the, who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps and the story in our family is that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn’t leave the house for six months, right. Now obviously something had really affected him deeply but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” he said.

The RNC seized on Obama's latest fact troubles.

“Barack Obama’s dubious claim is inconsistent with world history and demands an explanation. It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there’s no way Obama’s statement yesterday can be true. Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief,” said RNC Press Secretary Alex Conant.

And perhaps the more glaring inconsistency (as noted in the Fox story linked above): Obama's mother is an only child.

It's one thing to forget what side your uncle fought on.  It's quite another to mix up whether or not he exists.  Still, until all the facts are in, let's await clarification from the Obama camp before we start looking for an apology-if-people-misconstrued-his-remarks-and-got-offended.

Update: And there's your clarification.  By "Auschwitz" he meant "Ohrduf".  And by "uncle" he meant "great uncle".