The U.S. Constitution

I am writing this column on Monday afternoon, Aug. 1, 2016, and the news channels are devoting much time to the story of the speech given by Khizr Khan at the Democratic convention and the replies to it by Donald Trump.

Khizr Khan is the father of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. As the bomber approached the U.S. troops, Capt. Khan ordered his men to pull back and take cover while he approached the vehicle. The vehicle's driver detonated his bomb. Khan was killed, but his precautions saved his troops. Before his deployment Capt. Khan's mother had begged him to not take chances. He replied his troops were his responsibility, and he had to be with them regardless of the risks in order to take care of them.

Capt. Khan was brought to the U.S. when he was only 2, and his new-citizen parents taught him to be proud of and to honor his new country. The Khan family are Muslims, and they fully reject the hate and violence being carried out by Islamic terrorists. They told of their love of this country and the importance to them of the U.S. Constitution.

They also told how the portrayal of all Muslims as terrorists is inaccurate and offensive to those Muslims who are good Americans. In particular it is painful to those who have served in the military, fought jihadist extremist forces and lost friends or family in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mr. Khan posed a question to Donald Trump, and it is something I believe all Americans should ask themselves. He asked, "Have you ever even read the U.S. Constitution?"

Free copies of the Constitution are available from dozens of websites and usually for no more than the cost of postage. I found an inexpensive copy for sale at Barnes and Noble, and free copies of the Constitution can be downloaded from the internet. The U.S. Constitution is easy to read, but I have one caution. When you read it, do not insert words you believe were left out just so it will agree with what you think it should say. That job is reserved for politicians.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.