Senator Lindsey Graham entered the presidential race to make sure the neoconservative viewpoint had (another) standard bearer. Graham has been a strong proponent of military involvement almost everywhere in the world, and that includes Syria.
While other Republican candidates have recommended “no fly zones” in Syria, Graham has now gone one step further. Buzzfeed reports that the South Carolina senator has called for American forces to shoot down Russian airplanes that bomb U.S-backed Syrian rebels:
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says he would shoot down Russian planes in Syrian airspace in order to protect U.S.-backed forces in the region.
“First thing I would do is tell Putin that, if you bomb the people that we train in Syria, I shoot your plane’s down,” the Republican presidential candidate said on AM970 The Answer Tuesday morning, before slamming President Obama for letting the Russian military bomb targets on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. …
“I would shoot his planes down, I would literally shoot his planes down if he attacked the people we trained because we have to do that. It is not right by the American president to entice people to come to a fight, train and equip them, side with them on their cause, and sit back and watch them being slaughtered by an adversary of their people and adversary of the United States.”
Many of those U.S.-backed Syrian rebels Graham supports have ties to al Qaeda. Others have defected to ISIS. Even Jeb Bush called them “moderate Islamists.” Many simply want to implement Sharia law at a slightly slower pace than ISIS and al Qaeda. And yet Graham thinks it’s worth risking World War III on their behalf.
Graham currently registers at zero percent in most polls. He didn’t measure highly enough to receive an invite to even the undercard debate this week in Milwaukee.
AP
