What if a Gold Star Mother wanted to worship at a Mosque near Ground Zero

[TayTay]

Just wondering. Elsheba Khan lost her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, to an IED in Iraq in 2007. He was all of 20 years old. Colin Powell mentioned this young man's sacrifice during a speech in late 2008: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-gross/powell-honors-fallen-musl_b_135964.html">Huffington Post article

Colin Powell ended his endorsement of Obama by referring to the death of a Muslim soldier, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan of Manahawkin, N.J., who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 6, 2007, and whose remains were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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."

Powell framed the entire "Obama is a Muslim" debate in striking terms with his reference to this fallen American soldier.

"Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that's not America," he said. "He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life," Mr. Powell said. "Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way."

Do you think Newt Gingrich would call Ms. Khan a Nazi if she tried to worship at a mosque near Ground Zero? Isn't that a right that Specialist Khan, from the New York area, died to defend?

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16#slide=16">Photo of Elsheba Khan at her son's grave at Arlington National Cemetary

[saltpoint]

1. Recommended along with an acknowledgement that

this post is totally right-on, and a big howdy & a good morning thrown in for good measure.

:hi:

[TayTay]

4. 'tis a pleasure to converse with yuz as well!

I can't beleive this is even a controversy.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Whatever happened to "they hate us for our freedoms"? Or do some Americans hate us for our freedoms. Sometimes I mix up the American Taliban with the other Taliban.

[saltpoint]

7. Yes, and yes, and also yes.

And shame on that little nitwit Newt Gingrich for playing to the yahoos with his snarky manipulative histrionics.

[TayTay]

12. Shame on Newt Gingrich

Shame, shame, shame. First of all, he uses the Holocaust Museum to make a point FOR discrimination and fear based on stereotyping. (For that alone he should be flogged in print.)

Isn't the lesson that is enshrined in that holy place that we should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER allow racial or religious hatred to blind us or manipulate us into doing wrong?

This whole discussion is wrong.

BTW, great to talk to you again. It has been too long.

[saltpoint]

13. Tay, your lantern is burning bright as ever.

Don't be a stranger.

All good wishes for summer's end going into this fall.

[TayTay]

14. Thanks again

I have been busy. I am unemployed and scrambling to do contract labor. Plus my Mom had a series of strokes late last year and I am filling in on her care. Plus, it's summer and I have two post-teenagers at home, in between college right now. Been a bit busy. But always checking in on DU and friends.

[blm]

2. Well stated, Tay. This is the slamdunk of the debate.

.

[TayTay]

6. I didn't copy a picture of that photo

because I am inbetween computers and photo services at the moment, but take a look at it. It is haunting:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16#slide=16

I think that if Ms. Khan wanted to worship anywhere in the US, including at a Mosque near ground zero, she has earned that right. Indeed, her presence would only serve to sanctify that ground.

[w8liftinglady]

8. i posted the photo on my post...

[TayTay]

9. Thank you

This mother looks barely old enough to have a child, never mind a 20 year old. I thought of this modern Pieta when this whole controversy erupted.

I don't know, but I don't see her as a threat. then again, I don't want to use religion to cynically manipulate voters into a false sense of fear. That's just me. Newt Gingrich obviously differs in his opinion.

[LostinVA]

10. "her presence would only serve to sanctify that ground"

That brought tears to my eyes. Well done.

[TayTay]

17. Thank you

I appreciate that comment very much.

[w8liftinglady]

3. I wrote a ltte 2 years ago on this very same thing...

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/w8liftinglady/89

Letter: ‘On Powell endorsement’
Published: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 1:36 PM CDT
To the Editor,

It was disclosed recently that General Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama For President, criticizing his own Republican Party for what he called its narrow focus on irrelevant personal attacks over a serious approach to challenges he called unprecedented.

This would be news by itself, but it was Powell’s focus on one hero that caught my attention.

“Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with a 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

“I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards — Purple Heart, Bronze Star — showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn’t have a Christian cross. It didn’t have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

“And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life.”

Mr. Powell’s beautiful words of sacrifice and unity should remind us that Americans have to work together for what is best for America and stop demonizing those who may be different than us. Excellent choice, Mr. Powell, and beautifully written.

[TayTay]

15. wonderful letter

and we need those sentiments today.

[Billy Burnett]

5. Newt would call her a Nazi if she didn't accommodate the mob.

Newt should spend more time defending his vision of American christianity by going to Saudi to get some churches built.

[pipi_k]

16. Then he...or his minions...

would mock that Gold Star, saying she didn't deserve it, just like the RW creeps mocked John Kerry's Purple Heart back in 2004.

[Billy Burnett]

18. Yep. Black is White.

Repugs attack where they themselves are weakest. In this case - constitutional protection of freedom of religion.

[lunatica]

11. This is the sanity coming out as it should

First we hear the screaming banshee radical teabaggers, led by Sarah Palin's tweets. Then we see a few politicians cave to them, then when it's obvious this won't just go away because of it's sheer stupidity, the left weighs in with facts and nuances.

In the end we win, but sometimes that doesn't happen until the elections are over. It's not a grand win, but in the end we do win if we stay in the fight one step at a time.

edited for spelling

[TayTay]

19. Sen. Reid has lost a lot of respect from me today

Sen. Reid is someone who has spoken out on the subject of religious discrimination. This is something he knows about as a Mormon. It is sad to think that what he seeks for himself, he would deny to others.

[TayTay]

20. Another news story about this young man and his sacrifice.

I think we should remember people like him when we debate "our freedoms"

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/more-on-the-soldier-kareem-r-khan/