Wednesday, August 3, 2016

A Veteran's Letter to Khizr Khan

by Kim D.

Even if you didn't watch the Democratic convention, by now you should have heard about Khizr Khan and his criticism of Trump and the proposed Muslim ban. Although the Trump camp has floundered on this topic, the main issue is the inability to properly vet Syrian refugees. If we cannot be certain that ISIS will not infiltrate the refugees, then proposing that we stop importing them is a commonsense position. 

The problem is the messenger.  Trump has done a lousy job with his rhetoric or twitteric. In response to Khan's criticism that the Republican candidate hasn't sacrificed nor honorably served the country or appears to have read the Constitution, Trump couldn't help but swing with his counterpunch, claiming he had sacrificed and worked hard and questioning why Khan's wife stood beside her husband silence like a good Sharia-loving wife would do. Then he took to Twitter:



Trump likes to say that he, and he alone, can fix America's problems. He cannot nor can he run an effective campaign alone.  A brilliant and strong leader finds the best people and then lets them use their talents. Sometimes it's best for the boss to stay silent and let others respond to attacks, especially if they come from gold-star families.

 This response to Khan coming from U. S. Marine and Navy Veteran Chris Mark is more tactful and believable that Trump's hastily tweeted comments or bumbling TV interviews. In "An Open Letter to Khizr Khan," Mark presents the obvious problem with the embrace of the Democrat party:
I am troubled that you would allow a party that has little more than contempt for the US Service Member to parade you into the DNC to denounce Donald Trump.  Did you watch when protesters at the DNC booed and heckled Medal of Honor recipient  Capt. Florent Groberg? Did you notice your party interrupting the moment of silence for slain police officers?  Your own hypocrisy in not denouncing these acts and instead using the DNC as a platform to make a political point is disgraceful.  The simple fact is that whether one served or sacrificed does not give greater power to their statements.  One vote is as valuable as another.  That sir, is why our Country is great.  Your condemnation of one person for a statement while standing idly as your party disparages veterans and police officers is the height of hypocrisy.
To conflate the need to prevent potential terrorists from entering our country with the belief that ‘all Muslims’ should be banned is simply wrong and disingenuous. As a reminder, Mr. Trump said: ” “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life,” The irony of your son’s own death at the hands of these very people in Iraq should not be ignored.  I have little doubt that your son would have recognized the need to protect our country from these very people.  In fact, he held [his] own troops back so that he could check on a suspicious car.  Your son understood sacrifice and how to protect “his people”…’his soldiers’….’his fellow Americans’…
Click on the link above and read the entire letter crafted rhetorically to respect the sacrifice Khan's son made for country but effectively point out the hypocrisy of the platform upon which the father chose to issue his criticism of Donald Trump.
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