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‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 31
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 3, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Khizr Khan, father of fallen US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, with his wife Ghazala speaks on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, criti-
cizing GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims coming to the United States and challenged whether he had read the Constitution.
Denunciation Grows
Trump called out for disparaging Muslim military family
Donald Trump’s repeated crit-
icism of a Muslim military fam-
ily whose son died a hero while
serving as a U.S. Army captain
in Iraq has rocked the presiden-
tial race.
President Barack Obama
slammed Trump as “woeful-
ly unprepared” to serve in the
White House on Tuesday and
challenged Republican lawmak-
ers to drop their support for their
party’s nominee. “There has to
come a point at which you say
enough,” Obama declared.
Even GOP lawmakers are call-
ing Trump’s comments about the
family disrespectful, but most
of those who have endorsed him
are sticking by that stance.
Obama has made clear he
plans to be an active player in the
White House race, campaigning
around the country for Dem-
ocratic nominee Hillary Clin-
ton. He and first lady Michelle
Obama spoke at last week’s
Democratic convention in Phila-
delphia, where the parents of the
hero soldier, Khizr and Ghazala
Khan also made an appearance.
Khizr Khan criticized Trump’s
call for a temporary ban on Mus-
lims coming to the United States
and challenged whether he had
read the Constitution.
The billionaire businessman
challenged that assertion and
stoked further outrage by im-
plying Ghazala Khan did not
speak while standing alongside
her husband at the convention
because she is a Muslim woman.
Trump’s criticism of the
Khans is part of a familiar pat-
tern for the Republican nom-
inee: He can’t let go of a per-
ceived slight, no matter the
potential damage to his pres-
idential campaign or political
reputation.
Arizona Sen. John McCain,
a former prisoner of war, said
Trump did not have “unfettered
license to defame those who are
the best among us.” The Veter-
ans of Foreign Wars, the nation’s
oldest and largest veterans or-
ganization, called Trump out of
bounds for tangling with Khizr
and Ghazala Khan, whose son
was killed in 2004.
“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,”
VFW leader Brian Duffy said.
In an emotional appearance
at last week’s convention, Khizr
Khan criticized Trump for pro-
posing to temporarily freeze the
entry of foreign Muslims into the
U.S. and accused him of making
no sacrifices for his country.