Thread: Amputee soldier's heartfelt Muslim Facebook post goes viral

Amputee soldier's heartfelt Muslim Facebook post goes viral
By James Masters, for CNN

Updated 2:01 PM ET, Thu December 10, 2015

(CNN)A British soldier who had his leg blown off by a bomb while serving in Iraq has taken the internet by storm after his Facebook post attacking Islamophobia went viral.

Chris Herbert, who served in the British Army in Basra, Iraq, lost his right leg when a bomb went off next to his Land Rover in 2007.

One of his comrades, Private Luke Simpson, died in the attack, while two other soldiers were also injured.

Herbert, who was 19 when he suffered the life-changing injury, took to Facebook after complaining that he was "getting frustrated" with people expecting him to be racist after losing his leg.

He told those holding the entire Muslim faith responsible for terrorism to: "Get a grip of your lives, hug your family and get back to work."

The post has been shared nearly 125,000 times and has been hugely popular on social media.

"Yes. A Muslim man blew me up, and I lost my leg," he wrote. "A Muslim man also lost his arm that day wearing a British Uniform.

"A Muslim medic was in the helicopter that took me from the field. A Muslim surgeon performed the surgery that saved my life.

"A Muslim Nurse was part of the team that helped me when I returned to the UK.

"A Muslim Healthcare Assistant was part of the team that sorted out my day to day needs in rehabilitation when I was learning to walk.

"A Muslim taxi driver gave me a free ride the first time I went for a beer with my Dad after I came home.

"A Muslim doctor offered my Dad comfort and advice in a pub, when he didn't know how to deal with my medicines and side effects."

"Get a grip"

Herbert's post comes at the same time as a petition has been launched to prevent Donald Trump from entering the UK.

Over 400,000 people have signed the petition -- more than enough for a committee to consider sending the motion for parliamentary debate.

Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidential election, claimed that parts of London were so radicalized that British police feared for their lives -- a statement which was dismissed by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Trump, who has previously called for surveillance against mosques and said he was open to establishing a database for all Muslims living in the U.S., also stated that he wanted to ban all Muslims from traveling to the country.

Answering a question on Facebook, Herbert criticized Trump's policies, writing: "He's a fool, first line of the U.S. constitution declares (paraphrasing) that people cannot have rights taken away due to their religion. Even if he gets in, he has no legal right to do half the stuff he says."

Herbert, who lives in Portsmouth, on the south coast of England, said he took the decision to speak out after an "Islamophobic group tried to recruit" him as a poster boy for their organization.

He says that upon his return to the UK he was abused and discriminated against on a number of occasions by "white brits".

Herbert added: "A White brit pushed my wheelchair away from a lift so he could use it first.

"(Although, alot of people helped in my recovery! I don't hate white brits either! hahaha)."

"Blaming all Muslims for the actions of groups like Daeshe and the Taliban, is like blaming all Christians for the actions of the KKK or Westboro Baptist Church," he added.

"Get a grip of your lives, hug your family and get back to work."

The post has drawn widespread praise on Facebook and Twitter. One friend, Alastair Campbell, wrote beneath the comment: "Amen brother - you've hit the nail on the head, and it couldn't have come from a better bloke."

Another friend, Alex Elbourne, added: "Your words ring true Chris. Don't ever let the haters get you down. Don't ever let anyone tell you what you should think. I am proud to call you a friend."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/europe...-donald-trump/

Trump, who has previously called for surveillance against mosques and said he was open to establishing a database for all Muslims living in the U.S., also stated that he wanted to ban all Muslims from traveling to the country.

This isn't true. Trump never said he wanted a database for "all Muslims living in the US". A reporter asked him if he was open to a database on all Muslim immigrants living in the US, because that's what Trump is talking about, Muslim immigrants. Trump said yes, we need that. The fact is all immigrants who enter the US are already in a database with USCIS. Every immigrant who enters the US legally has a file, the file is in the database, and there's a record of them whether it's a visa or a green card. And this applies to Muslims as well as any other type of immigrant, so there was nothing new about this, other than the news that reporters covering Trump are dumber than goat crap.

Trump also didn't say "all Muslims traveling to the country", his staff said that by mistake. Trump has clarified and clarified that this applies to immigrants, not diplomats or their families or business visitors or citizens or athletes to attend events or other non-immigrant related type of travel. It also wouldn't be permanent unless it's part of a Moratorium on All Immigration and the same rules would apply to everyone, which is actually the whole Trump Plan if any of these egg-heads took time out from their Trump Hysteria to read his detailed positions outlined and posted on his website months ago. And these are the same positions that Jeff Sessions believe are necessary.

This young man's story is very touching and he's a very nice young man. He's certainly entitled to his experience, his story, and how he handles it all. We certainly have tens of thousands of Americans dealing with the same or much worse and thousands who didn't make it home alive. So we're not unfamiliar with this situation as rare as it may be in Great Britain, because it is not rare here.

That all said, Trump's actual plan which pertains to Muslim immigrants, not "all Muslims living in the US", is the right call for our country. Brits call the shots for their nation, and we call the shots for ours. I don't recall our ever asking Great Britain to come to our aid for anything and I don't foresee it in the future. If the British want to stir up a divide between our two nations, then that is certainly their free choice to do, same with Canada and any other country who wants to ban a US Presidential candidate because you don't like one of his policies. I suppose we'll just keep that tactic in mind with regards to your candidates and future leaders whose policies we don't agree with.

Now with that out of the way, something doesn't smell right about this Facebook posting. This young man was 19 in 2007, which would make him 27 or 28 now. Daeshe didn't exist in 2007 and the term is a major insult to ISIS. The term isn't real, it's a term given to ISIS by John Kerry. While he might know about the KKK, it's quite unlikely that he would have any direct personal knowledge about the Westboro Baptist Church, yet he names them in his posting. He also wouldn't know anything more about our US Constitution than we know about Great Britain's, and what he claims to know is wrong, yet he expounds away in error and ignorance, which is very un-British. Also, the phrase "get a grip of your lives, hug your families and get back to work" are strange terms for the posting.

So, I don't believe this young man wrote this Facebook posting. I believe this Facebook posting was written by a Trump-hater.

Answering a question on Facebook, Herbert criticized Trump's policies, writing: "He's a fool, first line of the U.S. constitution declares (paraphrasing) that people cannot have rights taken away due to their religion. Even if he gets in, he has no legal right to do half the stuff he says."

"Blaming all Muslims for the actions of groups like Daeshe and the Taliban, is like blaming all Christians for the actions of the KKK or Westboro Baptist Church," he added.

"Get a grip of your lives, hug your family and get back to work."

As to your last remark there Chris, there are 25 families in San Bernardino, California who can't do that, because they can't hug their families, because 14 are dead and 21 are seriously wounded, most will never be going back to work because they're dead or so severely injured normal work routines may be beyond them assuming they survive, and as for getting a grip of their lives, well, that's a pretty arrogant suggestion to these families or their fellow citizens who care deeply about their loss and suffering.

Also, it's really interesting how you knew the religions of all the various people you mention in your post. With all my experiences with hospitals and rehab centers because I'm a caregiver for a family member, not once did their religion ever come up. Of all the cabs I've taken on business, not once did I ever know the driver's religion. I do know that Muslims don't drink and rarely go to "pubs" with Dads to discuss patients. And so I don't think you knew who was Muslim and who wasn't, I think that little "rant" was written for you by a Trump-hater, and a rather stupid one at that.

Lets see, who wrote the article for CNN. A sports writer, James Masters.

Wow James Masters. That's really interesting you would be involved in such an article. Are you not aware of the horrible treatment Qatar gave Zahir Belounis and all the other human rights violations perpetuated against him and other athletes? Are you not aware of the terrible human rights violations against women throughout the Muslim world? I'm really not sure what side of humanity you're on writing such a bogus article, but it's not on the side of right. The Muslim world has many issues it needs to solve, it needs to end its internal battles and stop involving the world in them; it needs to end slavery in all its forms; it needs to stop the horrible discrimination and abuse against women and children; it needs to outlaw Shariah Law; and it basically needs to leave its barbaric history and join the modern world.

And you know what? Based on what Trump has done in just 2 days, American Muslims are already getting together to change things. But they can't do it alone. It will take pressure on Muslims all over the world to change it the world over.

And so far there's only one man willing to do that as a leader of a large country. That man is Donald J Trump, his country is the United States, and hopefully, he'll be our next President.

Are we to believe that the British solder asked everyone he came into contact with if they were Muslim?

Originally Posted by MW

Are we to believe that the British solder asked everyone he came into contact with if they were Muslim?

Exactly.

wtg judy
yes yes trump for our next Pensident