Father of Fallen Muslim American Soldier Gets Spotlight at DNC

The father of a Muslim American soldier who was killed in Iraq more than a decade ago joined other military speakers on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to deliver impassioned remarks on diversity.

Khizr Khan, father of the late Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, 27, who was killed in Iraq in 2004, criticized the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the country.

"Donald Trump, you're asking Americans to trust you with their future," he said. "Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy," he added, pulling the document from his breast pocket and raising it in the air.

"In this document, look for the words liberty and equal protection of law," Khan said. "Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You'll see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one."

The younger Khan, of Bristow, Virginia, died June 8, 2004, in Baquabah, Iraq, after a vehicle packed with an improvised explosive device drove into the gate of his compound while he was inspecting soldiers on guard duty, according to a Pentagon release announcing the casualty.

Assigned to Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, in Vilseck, Germany, Khan was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took the stage on the final day of the convention, Khan appeared on the platform with his wife, Ghazala. He was among a few speakers with military connections.

Florent Groberg, a medically retired soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts to stop a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in August 2012, and retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the former commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, both said Clinton would help to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

"Hillary Clinton has been training for this moment for decades," Groberg said. "In the Senate, she worked across the aisle to support wounded warriors and our families. As president, she will reform the VA, not privatize it," he added.

Last week at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Trump called the Veterans Affairs Department a "public trust" and vowed to keep it a "public system" but also promoted a plan to allow veterans more access to private health care.

Groberg said Clinton "will help heal the invisible wounds that lead to suicide and as commander in chief, she will defeat ISIS. When Hillary's moment comes, she will be ready -- ready to serve, ready to lead."

Allen said, "with her as our commander in chief, America will continue to lead the volatile world. We will oppose and resist tyranny and we will defeat evil. America will defeat ISIS and protect the homeland."

--Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.