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  • Funeral held for Pakistani- American US army officer

    http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/june-.../main/top9.asp

    Funeral held for Pakistani- American US army officer
    From Iftikhar Ali

    NEW YORK - Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, an American military officer of Pakistani origin, who was killed in Iraq, was laid to rest with full military honours on Tuesday.

    His funeral ceremony at Arlington National Cemetary in Washington was attended by Mohammad Sadiq, Deputy Chief of the Pakistan Embassy in the capital city, American military officers and his friends and relatives, according to an embassy press release.

    Captain Hamayun Saqib Khan, 27, who served in the US army as an ordnance officer, was the senior-most Pakistani-American US army officer to die in Iraq.
    His colleagues and superiors remembered him for his courage, honesty, sense of humour and grace under pressure in the field. Captain Khan’s colleagues spoke of his exemplary service and praised him for the leadership he provided to his troops.
    A Muslim priest, who led the Nimaz-e-Janaza after the military honours, specifically highlighted the ethnically diverse group that had come to pay its respects to Captain Khan. He was one of the growing number of Pakistani Americans in the US army.

    The Washington Post carried a detailed story on Capt. Hamayun Saqib Khan, although the newspaper mistakenly described him as a native of the United Arab Emirates where he was born.

    In Iraq, he was stationed in Baquba, Iraq, a base which was under almost constant bombardment. His mother, Ghazala Khan, was quoted as saying, ‘Whenever I talked to him, I started to cry. He would tell me ‘Don’t worry. I’m safe.’ ‘
    The last time she spoke to him was on Mother’s Day, May 9. ‘On Tuesday, under the hot midday sun, she and her husband, Khizr M. Khan, 53, watched as their middle son was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery’, the newspaper said, adding:

    Capt Hamayun Khan’s was the 66th casualty of the Iraq war to be buried on the cemetery’s lush, manicured hills. His flag-draped wood coffin was placed at the end of a row of marble headstones.

    On June 8, Capt. Khan died in a suicide car bombing at the main gates of his base. Khan, an ordnance officer with the Germany-based 201st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, had watched as several of his soldiers prepared to do a routine vehicle inspection. His unit was charged with the day-to-day security and maintenance of the camp.

    When an orange-coloured taxi drove toward them, Khan ordered his soldiers to ‘hit the dirt,’ said his father, who received details of his son’s death from his commanding officer.

    Capt. Khan walked toward the car, motioning for it to stop, his father said. A makeshift bomb inside it exploded, killing him and two Iraqi civilians in addition to the two suicide bombers. Ten soldiers and six Iraqi citizens were also wounded, the Army said.

    Capt. Khan’s father said he is proud of his son’s courage, but is devastated by the loss.

    ‘Where did his strength come from to face such a danger instead of hiding behind a pole or booth or something?’ his father said. ‘Normally we would try to hide. Had he done that, there would be no problem at all. It may have not been fatal.’
    During his three months in Iraq, Capt. Khan helped put Iraqi civilians to work for $5 an hour patrolling the streets of Baquba under the US Army, his father said.
    The programme, dubbed the United States-Iraq Sponsorship Programme, was intended to help combat high unemployment and provide the local population with security and peace, his father said.

    ‘He was always a peacemaker,’ Khizr Khan said, ‘always seeing an opportunity to give. He always said to the Iraqis, ‘We’re here not to hurt you but to help you.’ ‘
    Capt. Khan had hoped one day to go to the University of Virginia law school, his father said. He wanted to be a military lawyer and joined up four years ago in part to pay for law school. His stint was up last month, but because of the Army’s efforts to stem its manpower losses, he was assigned to Iraq indefinitely.
    Lt. Col. Kenneth Kerr, an Army chaplain, read a letter written by Capt. Khan’s commanding officer, Lt. Col. Dan Mitchell.

    ‘He died selflessly and courageously, tackling the enemy head on,’ Mitchell wrote. ‘We will not forget him and the noble ideas he stood for.’

    Capt. Khan was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

  • #2
    God bless him.

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    • #3
      RIP, a true hero ... like everyone who had been KIA

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      • #4
        Another non-U.S. born hero willing to fight for america... god bless him, he deserves ful honour's.
        Dont change fact...
        Scincerely, Napoleon

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        • #5
          Originally posted by RUSKIE
          Another non-U.S. born hero willing to fight for america... god bless him, he deserves ful honour's.
          I wish all the current immigrants were like him, sadly many are the total opposite, America haters who come just for the money, medical benefits, social care, education, and (soon) drivers licences, etc.

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          • #6
            another Pakistan-origin US marine being held hostage under threat of beheading ...

            http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/showthread.php?t=2358

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            • #7
              Originally posted by visioninthedark
              another Pakistan-origin US marine being held hostage under threat of beheading ...

              http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/showthread.php?t=2358
              Im suprised they would take a fellow Muslim hostage. Then again, they must hate him even more because hes serving in the USMC alongside the"evil infidels" and not on their side.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by ChrisF202
                Im suprised they would take a fellow Muslim hostage. Then again, they must hate him even more because hes serving in the USMC alongside the"evil infidels" and not on their side.
                If they were real muslims, they wouldn't execute anyone, even if they were captured soldiers. Killing innocents is a definite no-no anyway.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Aryan
                  If they were real muslims, they wouldn't execute anyone, even if they were captured soldiers. Killing innocents is a definite no-no anyway.
                  It seems now that nobody knows wether that Marine from Iraq who showed up in Lebanon is a deserter, if he was captured, etc. What have you heard in Pakistan about him?

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by ChrisF202
                    It seems now that nobody knows wether that Marine from Iraq who showed up in Lebanon is a deserter, if he was captured, etc. What have you heard in Pakistan about him?
                    I also read somewhere that it was all a ploy to allow him to desert, I'm sort of inclined that way. He said something along the lines that he promised not to work for the Americans again. If the terrorists got hold of any American soldier, let alone a marine, they would execute him without hesitation.

                    But I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this mystery.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Aryan
                      I also read somewhere that it was all a ploy to allow him to desert, I'm sort of inclined that way. He said something along the lines that he promised not to work for the Americans again. If the terrorists got hold of any American soldier, let alone a marine, they would execute him without hesitation.

                      But I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this mystery.
                      I think he deserted to, but why is my question?

                      Comment

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