U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is continuing to distinguish himself with dramatic public meltdowns instead of reasoned policy proposals. This weekend during an appearance on CNN, he faced the question of the implications of President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, and in his attempt to ride high and mighty and deflect blame, he ended up cursing at host Dana Bash on national television.
She asked him:
‘If ISIS reconstitutes itself after the U.S. leaves, does President Trump bear responsibility?’
Graham did not answer her question, instead resorting to a political argument that ignores the nuances of the situation. As Trump himself has done in the past, the Senator insisted that responsibility for the Islamic State terror group existing in the first place rests with President Barack Obama thanks in part to the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq that occurred under his watch.
To be clear, ISIS existed before that point, but Graham evidently prefers the inappropriately framed political argument he offered.
Bash pointed out that the Obama administration withdrew American troops from Iraq at all because the Status of Forces Agreement signed by the U.S. and Iraq that allowed the soldiers to remain in the country expired.
Graham exclaimed:
‘No, that’s a bunch of bullshit. Pardon my French. That’s a complete lie. That’s a complete and absolute lie… Obama wanted to get to zero and he got to zero. ISIS came about as a result of our withdrawal from Iraq, the Caliphate was established in Syria because Obama sat on the sidelines and watched the place be dismembered.’
Bash visibly reacted when he cursed. Check it out below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq652QFUusM
It’s not a “complete lie” that the Obama administration ended combat missions in Iraq because the Status of Forces Agreement expired. It really did, and there were talks about having an agreement resuscitated but those fell apart thanks in part to Iraq refusing to go along to the strict protections for American soldiers that the administration wanted.
Graham suggests that should Obama have persevered and established an American fighting force in Iraq and Syria no matter the cost, the Islamic State’s rise could have been avoided, but that’s not necessarily the case.
How would American troops putting their lives on the line in Iraq have stopped the attackers who killed well over 100 people across Paris in one night in 2015, or those who have perpetrated any number of other attacks in the time since?
Faced with these issues, Graham prefers to just fall all over himself and make a spectacle of his position on national television.
He’s done just that before, shouting during a hearing on sexual assault allegations against Trump nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh that the man had been put through hell and those concerned with hearing out the accusers’ stories should be ashamed of themselves.
Persecution complexes aren’t great ways to run a government, though, as voters came around to in the recently concluded midterm elections when Democrats took some 40 House seats from across the United States.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
