The Philadelphia Inquirer today highlighted Colin Powell’s comment that the suggestion that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim is wrong on two counts. First, because Obama is a Christian, and second, because being a Muslim wouldn’t disqualify him from political office anyway:
Powell cited the example of Cpl. Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan of Manahawkin, N.J., a Muslim born in the United States. Khan was 14 years old on 9/11. When he was old enough, he enlisted in the Army.
In August 2007, at age 20, Khan was killed in Iraq. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery. He gave his life for America.
For Iraq. There’s one point I might argue with, just a little. Khan didn’t give his life principally for America. He gave his life for a free Iraq. Of course, America and the rest of the world receives the side benefits from the expansion of freedom anywhere, but Iraqis, most of them Muslim, should be first to honor his sacrifice.
The New York Time has more information on Cpl. Kareem Khan:
He and three other soldiers, including a corporal from Washington Heights, were killed in Baquba after a bomb detonated while they were checking abandoned houses for explosives. They served in the Stryker Brigade combat team of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, based in Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Mr. Khan graduated from Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin in 2005, and enlisted in the Army a few months later, spurred by his memories of the 9/11 terror attacks. “His Muslim faith did not make him not want to go. It never stopped him,” his father, Feroze Khan, told the Gannett News Service in a story printed shortly after his death. “He looked at it that he’s American and he has a job to do.”
I look forward to the day when everyone on Earth considers it his and her job to defend freedom.
Frank Warner
Comments