“This is a new low, even for him,” said Robert Salaam, a Muslim-American who served in the United States Marine Corps for six years.
United States military veterans who are Muslim blasted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's comments criticizing the family of a Muslim Army captain who died in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq.
The veterans, who spoke to BuzzFeed News, called Trump's comments "disrespectful" and called them a "new low" for the reality television personality.
Trump, on Saturday, said the mother of Army Captain Humayun Khan had “nothing to say” about her son at the Democratic National Convention. Trump was referring to the moving speech by Ghazala Khan’s husband, Khizr Khan, last week, where he questioned if Trump has ever read the Constitution.
“If you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say,” Trump said in an ABC News interview . “Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say, you tell me.”
Trump added Sunday on Twitter, "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention. Am I not allowed to respond? Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!"
Ghazala responded Sunday in a scathing Op-Ed in the Washington Post by calling Trump “ignorant,” and saying she was too emotional to speak.
The Pentagon has said there are over 5,000 Muslim serving in various branches of the military.
John Moore / Getty Images
Mohammad Shaker, an Army veteran and former combat medic with the 82nd Airborne, said Trump’s comments were “very disrespectful” to a Gold Star family — a term used for immediate family members of military personnel killed in combat.
“Those could have been my parents,” said Shaker, a Republican who does not support Trump, said of Khan family's appearance and speech at the DNC.
“I appreciate that [Khizr Khan] came up there with his wife and showed Americans that Muslims serve in the Armed Forces. I’m glad we got the exposure,” Shaker said, adding that he believes ordinary Americans don’t know that Muslims are elisted.
“I left and joined the Army against my parents wishes, so I can only imagine if it was me who died,” said Shaker, who was deployed in Iraq for a year.
Shaker, who believes the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, would be no better for Muslims at home and abroad, said the only way for Americans to combat those who believe Trump and his rhetoric about Muslims is to get to know one.
“Muslims-Americans are just like every other American in society; we’re doctors and engineers; we run businesses, some of us are veterans; we go to schools, we are Libertarians and Democrats. We‘re just as diverse as any other American,” said Shaker, who is the chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Tampa Bay, Florida.
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Robert Salaam, who served in the Marines for six years, said he expected Trump would say something negative after the Khizr Khan's speech, since he “always does,” but he did not expect Trump to question Mrs. Khan.
“Never in a million years did I think he [Trump] would go this low. This is a new low, even for him,” said Salaam.
“For too long we've been painted as other or un-American. Those of us who are also serving as police, firefighters, or in my case, who has served in the military...I was proud to hear our voice heard at that level,” said Robert Salaam, a former Marine, said of Khizir Khan’s speech.
Attacking military families is something you don’t do, Salaam said of Trump’s comments about Mrs. Khan.
“It is a new low for him because it's such a blatant assault. And what's' even worse is to watch his surrogates or other members of the party try to defend what's not defendable” said Salaam.
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from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2aBc2fp
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