There Are Few Things More Precious Than a Gold Star Family
The Politicization, on Both Sides, of Heroes Who Have Made the Ultimate Sacrifice is Disappointing.
What red-blooded American wouldn’t feel for the family of a U.S. soldier killed in the line of duty? Say the parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, killed in Iraq in June 2004: Donald Trump.
Khan’s story was rather unique. Born in Pakistan, Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, moved to the States at two years of age.
During a much talked about speech at the National Democratic Convention, Captain Khan’s father Khizr came down hard on Donald Trump, criticizing his stance toward immigrants and Muslims. Trump fired back and for that, he took a heavy hit from the media.
Did Trump cross the line? Or is there another side to the story? Appearing on FOX News’ Lou Dobbs Tonight, Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill weighs in.
Lou: “This clash between Kahn and Trump and the extraordinary words, I believe at least from Kahn about Trump, a man who he doesn’t know and the national liberal media’s reaction is amazing. Your thoughts.”
Rob: “I would say there are few things more precious than a gold star family, especially a gold star mom, and I don’t think anyone should ever outlive their children. To see it get politicized the way that it is because you’ve got it on both sides. You’ve got it with Mrs. Smith who lost her son Shaw at Benghazi. You have Captain Kahn who, you know, he died in 2004. I wasn’t there, but from what I’ve read and from what I’ve heard, he died a hero’s death.”
Lou: “Protecting his men…”
Rob“Of course, saving lives. You know if I had been in his situation and saw people politicizing my sacrifice and what I had done, I’d be a little bit disappointed in them because that’s not what it is all about. He died a hero.”
Lou: “And as we move forward here, what we’re talking about here is radical Islamist terrorism, and that seems to get pushed to the side.
Rob: You saw that ISIS is saying regardless of Mr. Khan, the elder, saying it’s a religion of peace. They are laughing at him saying it’s not a religion of peace and your son died an apostate. Mr. Khan should be saying what can we do to defeat this because he is a Muslim, Pakistani born. And all of the work he’s done in Saudi Arabia, especially with bringing in migrants. We should be using people like Mr. Khan to show how we are going to defeat radical Islam as opposed to yelling at each other back and forth.”
Lou: “But that isn’t what he’s focusing on and that’s unfortunate.”
Rob: “It is unfortunate they shouldn’t be politicizing it, and there was no mistake that he came out for the Clintons. You know he’s worked for the Clintons before, and there’s been three presidential elections since his son was killed, and he could have come out for…this is the one that he decides to come out for, and this is part of the Clinton machine.”
Lou: “Exactly. And Hillary, Benghazi, her lies, she lies to Chris Wallace in her interview yesterday. This woman has, according to the latest FOX poll, only 68 percent of the country believes she’s dishonest and unworthy of trust.”
Rob: “She’s got what 98 days. She had 30 years to convince everyone that she is honest now she has 98 days. I would take Director Comey’s word for it. We have him saying it to Congress she can just flat out look at someone and say ‘Nah, that’s not what they said’.”
Lou: “Yet, she’s nine points ahead in the latest polls from CNN. Seventy percent of the country says we are going in the wrong direction. And we seem to be buffeted by the force and power of both the Democratic Party and liberal national media.”
Rob: “I think a lot of people say what they will to get elected. Regardless of who gets elected, I’m very pro-American. I hope that once they get there they’ll do what’s best for the country, not for their party.”