Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is itching for the U.S. to engage in another war. Since advocating for an enhanced military presence in Africa, Graham is joining the chorus of politicians and experts demanding action in North Korea, even if it leads to the loss of thousands of lives.
To Graham, the end result is imperative: capitulation by Pyongyang to U.S. interests. But can the U.S. afford the neocons’ main objective of regional dominance and control?
On Sunday, the 2016 presidential candidate spoke with CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” and delivered the same old song and dance routine we heard with Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Iran. Graham warned that the U.S. is on the verge of military action in North Korea because “we’re running out of time” before the rogue state develops an ICBM equipped with a nuclear weapon that can reach the U.S.
Last week, the senator averred that the U.S. is “headed to war” with the “crazy man” in Pyongyang. How badly does Graham want a new war? Let’s put it this way: he won’t be satisfied until we hear the timeless classic Vera Lynn song “We’ll Meet Again.”
Senator Graham is Preparing for War
Graham is one of the leftovers of the President George W. Bush years; a member of the very swamp that President Donald Trump pledges to drain. For the sake of peace, Trump needs to shed some of these Warhawk neocons from the Republican Party, beginning with the South Carolina official.
The senator said on Sunday that the U.S. is inching ever so closer to a military conflict with the Asian nation. He told the network:
"We're getting close to a military conflict because North Korea's marching toward marrying up the technology of an ICBM with a nuclear weapon on top that cannot only get to America but deliver the weapon. We're running out of time.”
Because of this, Graham thinks it is time to relocate dependents of U.S. military personnel in South Korea. He added:
“South Korea should be an unaccompanied tour. It's crazy to send spouses and children to South Korea, given the provocation of North Korea. So I want them to stop sending dependents. And I think it's now time to start moving American dependents out of South Korea.”
With this level of warmongering, why do the South Carolina electorate vote for this man and his vacuous polemics? But this wasn’t the only time he has pontificated on another interventionist quagmire that will only bog down American resources.
Last month, Graham told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that unless things change, the U.S. is inevitably “headed to war” with the Kim Jong-un regime. The sycophant stated that if a war did occur, then it would be the fault of North Korea, assuring viewers that the U.S. would win the war, though “a lot of people would get hurt and killed.”
Graham said:
“If we have to go to war to stop this, we will. If there’s a war with North Korea, it will be because North Korea brought it on itself, and we’re headed to a war if things don’t change. It’s not lost by me what a war would look like with North Korea. One, we would win it, but a lot of people would get hurt and killed.”
In the end, Graham had a stern warning for North Korea: the Trump administration is ready “to destroy the regime.”
The day before Graham’s doom and gloom prognostications, national security adviser H.R. McMaster noted that the odds of war with North Korea are “increasing every day.” In this arena of shouting for another militaristic quarrel, it isn’t a surprise.
Lindsey Graham Needs to Go
In October, after four U.S. soldiers were killed on a training mission in Niger, many Americans wondered what exactly U.S. forces were doing in the region. This even stumped Graham, who conceded that he was unaware military personnel were stationed in Africa.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) quipped on Twitter, “You know you are in too many wars in too many places when even warmonger Lindsey Graham can’t keep track anymore.”
One of the biggest proponents of constant military interventions has been Graham. Alongside Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Graham and Company have never seen a war, regime change, coup d’état, or intervention they didn’t like. Despite their repeated failures, they continue to advocate the same destructive policies that destabilized the Middle East, weakened Latin America, and killed scores of people in Southeast Asia.
You could argue that this is a lot more serious than the Iraq debacle from more than a decade ago. Unlike the boondoggle in Baghdad, North Korea really does have nuclear weapons. Provocation, agitation, and threats will only produce a tragedy for the entire globe.
Should something disastrously transpire, blood will be on the pertinacious Graham’s hands.
Past Policies Have Not Worked
Thankfully, Trump has yet to commence conflicts with North Korea. Unfortunately, he has been given the wrong advice from the neoconservatives in Washington, in the media, and in his administration.
Just take a look at what has happened this year: President Trump has placed North Korea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, U.S. and South Korea conducted military exercises, and Congress voted to slap the country with even more sanctions.
Have any of these initiatives been successful? Hardly. They have only worsened the situation.
During the 2016 election campaign, Candidate Trump slammed the records of administrations and governments of the last 16 years, and rightly so. Why would he listen to these same folks who have been wrong time and again?
Here’s a better question: has Lindsey Graham and his neocon brethren ever been right about anything? Have you ever read the word “floccinaucinihilipilification”? It is the act of describing something as unimportant or of being worthless. That is a perfect word when discussing Graham and the neocons.
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