Tribute to Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan - An American Hero and Muslim

Der ehemalige Aussenminister Colin Powell scheint Widergutmachung für seine Aussagen zur Vorbereitung des Irak-Krieges leisten zu wollen, und unterstützt jetzt Obama:

• Für die Huffington Post ist das ein Nagel zum Sarg von John McCain.
• CNN berichtet relativ neutral,
• das ehemalige Nachrichtenmagazin sagt dazu, daß diese Unterstützung ein Ritterschlag sei.

Doch die Nachricht des Tages ist: Colin Powell moved by a crescent, jenen Halbmond nämlich, der das Grab von Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan schmückt, der meinte, es sei für ihn als Muslim nicht akzeptabel, nicht in diesen Krieg zu gehen - und so um sein junges Leben gebracht wurde - von Bush, und von all jenen, die Bush zugejubelt haben. Hier ist das Video:


"Heldentod" heisst zunächst mal, dass der Held tot ist - und dieser hier fiel in einem Krieg, für den niemand eine Rechtfertigung findet und der zu Recht gescheitert ist. Aber darum geht es jetzt nicht. Dieser junge Mann starb für seine Überzeugungen - andere halten dafür nicht mal eine Nacht in einer Zelle aus, wieder andere sind nicht mal bereit, sie auf einer Demonstration zu vertreten, oder namentlich im Internet. Hier sind die Informationen über seine Ehrenzeichen:

• Das purple Heart,
• der Bronze Star.

“I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in 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 headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a 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 can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.”

Hier ist das komplette Transscript.