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In his ringing endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Colin Powell took particular issue with attacks on Obama based on rumors that he is a secret Muslim. Noting that Obama is in fact a lifelong Christian, Powell said further that it shouldn't matter even if Obama really were a Muslim. Powell then went on to describe a picture from a New Yorker photo essay showing a grieving mother resting her head on the gravestone of her son, a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq and buried at Arlington National Cemetery:
"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 seven-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 [Obama] 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 fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."
Photo: Platon, New Yorker (see also Huffington Post, New York Times)
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
