VFW releases devastating statement on Trump
Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the largest and oldest veteran’s organization in American history, has just publicly called out Donald Trump for his calloused comments towards the mother of a slain soldier.
“Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” said VFW Commander-in-Chief Brian Duffy. “There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.”
The Khan family rose to national attention when Khizr Khan (photo at top with his wife) criticized Trump at the Democratic National Convention, saying that Trump’s proposed policy of banning Muslims from entering the United States would have meant his son, Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, would not have been permitted into the country.
Khan’s son was killed after instructing his men to stay back while he heroically went to investigate what he suspected was a car bomb. The vehicle exploded as Khan approached it, killing him.
Khizr Khan’s wife was also present at the DNC, but she did not speak because she said that she was overwhelmed with grief for her son. Trump responded to Khan’s criticisms by suggesting that his wife was forbidden to speak because of her Muslim faith.
In addition to the VFW’s condemnation, family members of twenty-three fallen service-members also wrote an open letter to Trump describing how the Republican presidential candidate had cheapened their grief.
“When you question a mother’s pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us,” the Gold Star families wrote. “When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice.”
Nathan Wellman is a Los Angeles-based journalist, author, and playwright.
(From U.S. Uncut)
