Khizr Khan: U.S. wars “have created a chaos” in Muslim-majority countries
The media amplified Khizr Khan's patriotism—but not his criticism of US foreign policy and the "quagmire" it led to
Topics: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Khizr Khan, Libya, War, Elections News, Media News, News, Politics News
Khizr Khan, the Pakistani American father of a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq, has become something of a media celebrity in the past week.
At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Khan and his wife Ghazala denounced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his racist, anti-Muslim policies.
Trump responded by maliciously attacking the Khans, and a political scandal has ensued.
Many media outlets have amplified Khizr Khan’s patriotic sentiments. Significantly less attention, however, has been paid to Khan’s criticism of U.S. wars and his lamentation that “We have created a chaos” and a “quagmire” in Muslim-majority countries.
Khizr and Ghazala Khan spoke on MSNBC’s “Hardball” on Monday, Aug. 1. Fifteen minutes into the program, after Khan harshly condemned Islamist extremists for “hijacking” his religion, host Chris Matthews briefly asked Khan about U.S. wars in Muslim-majority countries.
“What do you think, or feel, when you see us attack Iraq, or go into Afghanistan after Osama bin Laden? Or we go attack, we bombed Libya. We’re bombing Syria now, all Islamic countries,” he said. “What do you feel, as an Islamic man?”
“As a Muslim American I feel that these policies are not in the interest of the United States of America,” Khan replied, with a look of distress.
“And we see the result of it,” he continued. “We are more vulnerable now. We have created a chaos.”
“Well you know, you’re speaking to the choir,” Matthews laughed.
Khan added, “I wish this country would have listened to Chris Matthews when he was talking, when he was preaching. We could have saved ourselves from this quagmire.”
“I didn’t think Iraq made any sense, and I think you agree,” the host responded.
Matthews then segued back to Donald Trump, to whom they devoted much more time.
In total, they only discussed U.S. foreign policy for 50 seconds in the 15-minute “Hardball” interview.
This brief excerpt, in which Khizr Khan criticizes militaristic U.S. foreign policy, is not included in the isolated clips for the episode on MSNBC’s website. One has to watch the full episode to see it.