WASHING D.C., May 9, 2007
Sen. Graham's Secret Mission In Iraq
The Republican Senator Served A Short Time And Experienced Loss First-Hand
-
Play CBS Video Video Senator's Secret Mission In an exclusive interview, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks about being the first U.S. Senator to experience active duty while serving the military in Iraq. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
-
Video Eye To Eye: Lindsey Graham Only On The Web: Sen. Lindsey Graham was involved in the construction of a court complex in Baghdad. He talked with Sharyl Attkisson about losing one of his colleagues to a roadside bomb.
-
Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham visited the popular Shurja market in Baghdad as part of their tour of the Iraq. (AP)
-
Photo Essay Iraq In Pictures A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
"I spent about eight days in Iraq, after Sen. McCain left, as Col. Graham," he told CBS News Capitol hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson in an exclusive interview.
Never before has a U.S. senator served active duty in Iraq. Graham, R-S.C., wore fatigues and a sidearm and was assigned to the new Rule of Law Task Force.
"The one thing I learned about the surge is that the military part of it — knocking down doors and shooting al Qaeda and arresting extremists — is part of it but not all of it," he said. "There is a surge going on on the law front."
As a lawyer who's served in the Air Force, and in the Guard and Reserves for 25 years, Graham brought his legal expertise to a place where Saddam Hussein and his henchmen played judge, jury and executioner. Graham counseled the Iraqis on how different their courts must be now.
"The old legal system was there to serve the dictator," he said. "The new legal system has to be there to serve all the people; not just one group of people"
He also learned a much more personal lesson after spending the day with Navy Cmdr. Philip Murphy-Sweet who helped build the brand new Green Zone courthouse.
"And he told me the story about how the American military in conjunction with the Iraqi government built this complex in 60 days," Graham said, "how they built the courtroom in five days and it was a courtroom that any state in our nation would be proud of. Ah, this was on a Friday. He was killed the next morning. Three young kids, a beautiful wife from Pennsylvania — killed by an IED.
"It hit me hard because I knew him. And I'm sure that the other deaths in Iraq have hit their colleagues hard. I just happened to meet this guy — just a random chance in life that I spent the last day with him. He was killed within 24 hours of when I met him. And I guess the story goes for me that nothing good in Iraq happens without a sacrifice."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
CBSNews.com On Digg
Add a Comment See all 49 Comments
- Sen. Lindsey Graham has consistently supported laws which undermine the rights of prisoners and accused including the fundamental rights to actually be charged with a crime and see an attorney.
He has also supported laws which in enable torture - although he pretends tp oppose torture.
What he says is not what he does.
It is laughable that he pretends to be a supporter of a just legal system in Iraq. - Reply to this comment
- So, what is the message here?
War is noble ? - Reply to this comment
- Sen. Lindsay Graham has been a key contributor to the breakdown of legal rights in the US and has been a clever supporter and enabler of torture and the mechanisms of torture by agents and mercenaries working for the US around the world.
He was one of those who insisted on continuing the practice of using contractors (mercenaries) at US detention centers in Iraq and elsewhere. This enables the US government to use others to take actions which cannot legally be carried out by agents of the US government.
Oh yes. He is clever scum.
Not my idea of a man who should be defining legal values - or any other values - for anybody. - Reply to this comment
- I'm sure that the military provided him more security than they provide other military lawyers, as they should, but if they had kept up side show level of security used for McCain, it couldn't have been kept secret. Sen. Graham deserves our respect for his willingness to perform in a situation he could have easily avoided. It doesn't make the surge smart, but it demonstrates that some of his party's conservative elite are willing to face some of the danger into which they place others who aren't as well-connected.
- Reply to this comment
- Sen. Graham: anything good in Iraq didn't HAVE to happen at such a price, but you and your backers lack the intellectual industry and imagination to do things in any other way. Get your head out of the Sgt. Rock comic books and maybe--and that's a BIG maybe--you'll see other, more constructive ways to get what you want done. It's a senseless waste of our sons and daughters that you and your kind can't come up with better ways to accomplish goals other than off the backs, the sweat, and lives of well intended Americans who only want to serve the American Constitution.
I wish more than anything I could send the lot you to Iraq so you can live out your dreams of heroism and glory...you deserve it; it's your making and your destiny. - Reply to this comment
- Sen. Graham: something good in Iraq didn't HAVE to happen without such a terrible price, but you and your backers lack the intellectual industry and imagination to do things in any other way. You and your backers deserve Iraq, and I'd like to ship the lot of you there for the duration of the war. Maybe--and that's a big mabye--then you'd stop thinking of way in terms of the heroics of Sgt. Rock comic books and see it for what it is: a senseless waste of our sons and daughters.
- Reply to this comment
- Sen. Graham: something good in Iraq didn't HAVE to happen without such a terrible price, but you and your backers lack the intellectual industry and imagination to do things in any other way. You and your backers deserve Iraq, and I'd like to ship the lot of you there for the duration of the war. Maybe--and that's a big mabye--then you'd stop thinking of way in terms of the heroics of Sgt. Rock comic books and see it for what it is: a senseless waste of our sons and daughters.
- Reply to this comment
- The old legal system was there to serve the dictator," he said. "The new legal system has to be there to serve all the people; not just one group of people"
Does US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales know this? When in Rome; or more apropos when in America -- or Iraq? - Reply to this comment
- The old legal system was there to serve the dictator," he said. "The new legal system has to be there to serve all the people; not just one group of people"
Does US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales know this? When in Rome; or more apropos when in America -- or Iraq? - Reply to this comment
- "The old legal system was there to serve the dictator," he said. "The new legal system has to be there to serve all the people; not just one group of people"
Does US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales know this? When in Rome; or more apropos when in America -- or in Iraq? - Reply to this comment
