Fareed Zararia GPS is shown on both CNN and CNN International overseas.
Fareed normally ends with a mesage on an issue of the day for you to think about.
At the end this week he stops and says he is going to cede his time to someone who has put into words an issue that has been troubling him for months and gives the best answer possible.
He then goes to Powells endorsement from MTP and as we get to the bit about Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan we fade to the beutiful and disturbing picture of Private Khan's mother at his grave.
More after the break...
Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.
And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."
A strong and proud answer to a despicable smear on large portions of the community, and by repeating it in full on this show it is shown in full overseas to:
the Muslim Pakistani-Britain in the UK
the Muslim Algerian-French in France
the Muslim Turkish-German in Germany
all democratic EU and NATO Allies
the Muslim in demcratic India
the Muslim in democratic Turkey
and that is before the Muslim communities in less free and democratic states across the Mid-East and Africa.
The Powell endorsemant did make the news overseas last week but it was "Republican endorses Democrat" now the full endorsement and criticims of the smears of the Republican campaign.
The rest of the show this week was:
- 2 previous Secretaries of State and Ronald Reagans Chief of Staff talking about the transition, at one point he had to remind them after lots of talk of President Obama that McCain might win, the practically laghed in his face.
- Mike Bloomberg would not publically endorse Obama but talked alot about the things whoever wins needs to do and it was all Obama policy all the time, invest in infrastructure, we can not cut Taxes, estate Tax is a good thing, invest in alternative energy etc etc.
- Chris Patton a Right Wing European politician talking about why it has to be Obama.