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 fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."
- Colin Powell in 2008
I found the quote and photo on a facebook page called "I actually do SUPPORT MY PRESIDENT". Many excellent photos, cartoons, and quotes there.
10 comments :
I lost a lot of the respect I had for Colin Powell after he made these statements.
c.h, wtf?
When I look at the two parties in America, Democrats have been far more disrespectful to Muslims.
Remember Biden and Reid? They portrayed Iraqis as uncivilized monsters who can never live together without separate borders.
Powell, of course, didn't have anything to say about this...he was too busy downing Obama's "Hope and Change" that turned out to be a complete bust.
Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan...a true Muslim Patriot.
"I lost a lot of the respect I had for Colin Powell after he made these statements."
C.H., why did you lose respect for Colin Powell after he made those comments? Is it because he helped defeat his own party?
I explained how I felt above...the things Democrats have said about Muslims in Iraq is far more offensive, in my opinion.
Yep...remember the great plan to split Iraq up into several different countries?
That "great plan" was a non-binding resolution that was passed by the US Senate in 2007:
'A non-binding resolution that sailed through the U.S. Senate in September 2007 reignited debate over Iraq’s political future. Introduced by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE) and Sam Brownback, (R-KS), the measure calls for a decentralized Iraqi government “based upon the principles of federalism” and advocates for a relatively weak central government with strong Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish regional administrations. The bill, based on a proposal first introduced by Biden and CFR President Emeritus Leslie H. Gelb, passed the Senate by a 75 to 23 margin. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Chris Dodd (D-CT), rivals in a crowded presidential field that includes Sen. Biden, both supported the amendment. Despite the bipartisan support in Washington, Iraqi politicians in Baghdad reacted furiously. Iraq’s divided central government has condemned the measure, calling it “an incorrect reading” of Iraq’s history. Even the U.S. embassy in Baghdad came out against the federalism measure. Some experts, meanwhile, favor other forms of governmental realignment, including outright “partition” of Iraq into three separate states.'
So did Biden and Reid portray Iraqis as uncivilized monsters? It seems not.
There was a time in 2006 when I too thought that Iraq should be split up into three countries.
Seems they did to me...in addition to a bunch of other Democrats who were eager to see Iraq go down in flames.
I never thought Iraq should be divided...I had more faith in the Iraqi people than that.
'Back in 2005, at the time of the drafting of the new constitution, the Bush administration worried that scepticism towards federalism among Sunnis might torpedo the whole constitutional referendum. (It almost did.) In 2007, at the height of the "soft partition" debate in Washington, then-Senator Joe Biden made several enthusiastic attempts at enlisting Sunni support for federalism, but to no avail.
Similarly, when the Akkaz gasfield in Anbar province first made headlines in 2007, it was US generals, rather than Sunni Iraqis themselves, who spoke enthusiastically about the prospect of energy development in the Sunni-majority region.
Today, finally, Sunni interest in federalism exists in Iraq. In fact, it exists in several forms. Since 2010, pro-federal movements have been noted in both Anbar and Nineveh governorates. But most substantially, there is now a formal request from the governorate council in Salahaddin, the home province of Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein, for a referendum to be held on a federal status for the governorate.'
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