Lindsey Graham Has a Long History of Saying Really Crazy Things About Foreign Policy

The likely presidential candidate says he’s been correct more often than not on foreign policy.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/marine_corps/5175347832/in/photolist-dG2wXa-8TgU4K-7GraBu-8TgUVn-dKEE9m-dG2wV4-8TgV6x-e3rQiX-8TgUEX-dLMgG2-dtByNU-8Tk1B3-pTiZdH-9ZQT51-a1JABx-9ZQT63-s7RHnS-tBAHMt-e3xvT3-8Tk1qb-apcZbg-9nHoZr-b7TWKV-dUG8ay-fDZ4uj-7K6Tww-ri8rSV-rcDrQV-sdF66C-9ZQT7d-5TTUfg-8QyWVd-taAMpb-sdRMtm-taSQev-sdQQff-sTpnuc-taUX5X-taT1x6-t8vYXs-se4aEn-sdSGGq-sTd2vL-9nHoXB-9nzcnk-9nz7ag-9nLrwh-9nHuxD-8g1BH4-sM5Ehq">Sgt. Mark Fayloga</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Today, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is expected to launch his campaign for president. The longtime legislator is one of America’s most hawkish politicians, and will be running almost solely on a foreign policy platform. The tenor of his campaign will be grim: “I’m running because I think the world is falling apart,” he explained.

Indeed, Graham—who is a leader on the Senate Armed Services Committee—has a long record of sharing his views on national security matters and the use of military power, particularly when it applies to the Middle East. Here are a few of his greatest hits, which offer a preview of the foreign policy he will be promoting as a candidate.

  • “Everything I learned about Iranians I learned working in the pool room…I met a lot of liars, and I know the Iranians are lying.” —May 22, 2015, speaking at a conference about his job in a pool hall as a young man
  • “If I’m president of the United States and you’re thinking about joining Al Qaeda or ISIL, I’m not gonna call a judge. I’m gonna call a drone and we will kill you.” —May 16, 2015, speaking at Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner
  • “Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula…Everything that starts with ‘Al’ in the Middle East is bad news” —May 3, 2015, while delivering the keynote speech at an American-Israel Public Affairs Coalition event
  • “If we don’t help the King of Jordan, who is the last moderate voice in the Mideast, God help us all.” —June 2014, speaking with Greta van Susteren on Fox News
  • “Putin basically came to the conclusion after Benghazi, Syria, Egypt—everything Obama has been engaged in—he’s a weak indecisive leader.” —March 2014 tweet
  • “I believe that if we get Syria wrong, within six months—and you can quote me on this, there will be a war between Iran and Israel over their nuclear program. My fear is that it won’t come to America on top of a missile, it’ll come in the belly of a ship in the Charleston or New York harbor.” —September 5, 2013, at an event in South Carolina
  • “The last place in the world you want nuclear weapons is the Mideast. Why? People over there are crazy.” —September 4, 2013, at an event in South Carolina
  • “Chemical weapons in Syria today means nuclear weapons in the US tomorrow.” —September 3, 2013, at an event in South Carolina
  • “Instead of a surgical strike on [Iran’s] nuclear infrastructure, I think we’re to the point now that you have to really neuter the regime’s ability to wage war against us and our allies…[We must] destroy the ability of the regime to strike back.” —November 10, 2010

Graham, who has said he has done “more right than wrong” on foreign policy, was a vocal cheerleader for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Iraq is a self-defense issue, and we need to aggressively engage Saddam Hussein,” he said in 2002. “We don’t need the blessings of the world to defend ourselves. A regime change is the only alternative in Iraq.”

A year later, Graham expressed doubt that US troops would remain in Iraq for longer than a year. “If we’re there through 2009, something went wrong,” he said. On that point, he certainly was correct.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate