Obama’s Las Cruces remark creates controversy

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is taking fire from Republicans after erroneously saying during his town-hall meeting with veterans in Las Cruces that his uncle was among the American soldiers who liberated Auschwitz during World War II.

Auschwitz was liberated by the Russians, not the Americans.

But Obama said on Monday, while talking about the need for improved health care for veterans, that he had an uncle “who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps. The story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn’t leave the house for six months. Now, obviously something had really affected him, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain.”

According to the Associated Press, the Obama campaign said on Tuesday that the Illinois senator’s story was correct except that the camp his great uncle helped liberate was Buchenwald.

That didn’t stop a firestorm of criticism. The blog Ace of Spades HQ, which first noticed the error, called Obama’s statement “one of his more egregious and easily demonstrated lies, made even more so by the day he decided to let it loose on.”

“Unless Obama’s ‘uncle’ was serving in the Red Army, it’s a pretty safe bet he was many hundreds of miles from Auschwitz on its day of liberation,” the blogger wrote.

The blog Red State accused Obama of lying about the Holocaust for political gain.

“Look, we all know Obama has a problem with Jewish voters and veterans, but trying to use the Holocaust for political gain is sickening — especially when it is a bold faced lie,” stated a posting on the blog.

Even the Republican National Committee hit Obama over the statement.

“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,” RNC press secretary Alex Conant said on Tuesday in a prepared statement. “Obama’s frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief.”

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, in the statement to the Associated Press, said Obama “mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically.”

“Senator Obama’s family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II — especially the fact that his great-uncle was a part of liberating one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald,” Burton said.