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Obama mistakes first surviving Medal of Honor recipient for a DEAD hero soldier
By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 6:29 PM on 24th June 2011

Comments (0) Add to My Stories Share President Obama made an embarrassing blunder during an address to U.S. soldiers.

Speaking at Fort Drum in upstate New York yesterday, the President mixed up two Medal of Honor recipients, referring to dead hero soldier Jared Monti as alive.

For the members of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division who listened to the President’s speech, the remark no doubt came as a shock.

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President Barack Obama spoke to U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York yesterday
The President said: ‘Throughout my service, first as a senator and then as a presidential candidate and then as a President, I’ve always run into you guys. And for some reason it’s always in some rough spots.

‘First time I saw 10th Mountain Division, you guys were in southern Iraq. When I went back to visit Afghanistan, you guys were the first ones there.

‘I had the great honor of seeing some of you because a comrade of yours, Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honor to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously.’
To Mr Obama’s embarrassment, the hero soldier was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 21, 2006, and awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously on September 17, 2009.

President Obama handed a framed Medal of Honor to Jared Monti’s parents, Paul and Janet Monti, in September, 2009

Jared Monti (front right) was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 21, 2006

President Obama handed the framed medal to his parents, Paul and Janet Monti, and comforted the grieving couple in the Oval Office after the ceremony, joined by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Explaining the error, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told CBN News the President did not have a prepared speech.

Mr Carney said: ‘At Fort Drum, the President misspoke when discussing the first Medal of Honor he presented posthumously to Jared Monti, who was a member of the 10th Mountain Division.

‘The President paid tribute to Monti in his remarks to troops in Afghanistan in March 2010. Last year, the President presented the Medal of Honor to Salvatore Giunta, who was the first living recipient of the Medal who served in Afghanistan.’
The President presented the Medal of Honor to Salvatore Giunta, the first living recipient of the Medal who served in Afghanistan, on November 16, 2010

The President presented the medal to Sergeant Giunta on November 16, 2010.
The gaffe came one day after the President announced his plan to withdraw 33,000 troops out of Afghanistan rover the next 15 months - after nearly ten years of war.

While Americans are siding with him over bringing troops home, the decision flies in the face of warnings from the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, as well as other military officials.
General Petraeus fears that a drawdown that is too quick and too intense could allow militants such as the Taliban to fill the vacuum left by departing U.S. troops, pushing Afghanistan over the brink into the extremism that allowed Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to flourish once more.
Mr Obama also defended his decision to withdraw 33,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan over the next 15 months

More than half of Americans want the troops to come home as quickly as possible, a Pew Research poll showed, as interest in the war fades following the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
On Wednesday, the President said he is is planning to withdraw 10,000 troops by the end of 2011 and a further 23,000 by the end of 2012 - accounting for all the extra forces he sent in 2009 to turn around a flailing war effort.

Around 70,000 U.S. troops would then be left, with more American lives bound to be lost and leaving General Petraeus concerned that if troops are pulled out too quickly the Taliban will rush in.

This figure leaves around twice as many troops as when Mr Obama took office in January 2009 and shows a more aggressive pull-out than some of his military advisers had suggested.