Lindsey Graham champions sending troops to Iran despite Americans' weariness of endless war

Senator Lindsey Graham (S.C.) skipped over a few recent wars in an interview Tuesday to make a historical argument in favor of an American military intervention in Iran — action he has urged for well over a decade.

Gillian Turner, a talking head at Fox News, where Graham has been a frequent guest in recent days, told the senator that while a Ronald Reagan Institute poll found that 84% of Americans say that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon matters to U.S. security and prosperity, "the rub, as you well know, is probably like 110% of Americans don't want to have another 20-year-long or even 20-month-long war in the Middle East."

'I'd rather open up Pandora’s box than empty it.'

A poll conducted by the Economist and YouGov June 13-16 found that 16% of Americans think "U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran." Sixty percent of respondents said America should not get involved, and 24% said they weren't sure. When asked whether the U.S. should continue to engage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, 56% said yes.

"If you think radical Islam can be dealt with and ignored — dealt with without being dealt with — then you're wrong," said Graham. "You got to stand up to these people."

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Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

"We live in a world where we have to defend ourselves," continued the senator, a former proponent of the false Iraqi weapons of mass destruction narrative who co-sponsored the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq resolution of 2002. "I don't think it's going to be 20 months, but here's what I do believe: If we don't get it right now, we're going to pay later."

Graham employed different language but more or less made the same argument 15 years ago, years before he said that "the world is literally about to blow up."

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Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu via Getty Images

"If you use military force against Iran, you've opened up Pandora's box," he reportedly told a crowd at the American Enterprise Institute in September 2010. "If you allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, you've emptied Pandora's box. I'd rather open up Pandora's box than empty it."

Graham also suggested at the time that military operations should be executed with regime change in mind — something he supported in Iraq, Libya, and Syria.

'The men and women who serve, they're the ones going.'

When asked in the interview Tuesday whether he could "make the commitment that this would not lead to a longer war," Graham said, "I can guarantee you that if the ayatollah gets a nuclear weapon, he would use that."

Graham then appeared to insinuate that American troops are required in Iran, stating, "The men and women who serve, they're the ones going — not people answering the poll. And if you ask them, 'Would you be willing to risk your life to stop the ayatollah from having a nuclear weapon?' All of them would say, 'Yes.'"

"We live in a world where you got to confront problems," said Graham. "You want to avoid World War III? Learn the lessons from World War II."

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Photo (left): Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo (right): Iranian Leader Press Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

The senator appeared to insinuate that a failure to help attack Iran was akin to appeasing Adolf Hitler, stressing that American freedom was conditional on attacking Iran: "If we do not fight for our freedom, we will lose it."

Fox News' John Roberts subsequently alluded to the opposition by some Republicans to another regime-change war, referring to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's recent tweet in which she noted, "Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA. Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them. And this one will quickly engulf the Middle East, BRICS, and NATO as countries are required to take a side."

Graham said the Republican opposition to "supporting Israel against Iran could literally be put in a phone booth" and claimed Greene simply doesn't understand the threat posed by the "religious Nazis."

In a separate interview on the same network, Graham implored President Donald Trump to go "all in" on Iran, suggesting that the U.S. should "do joint operations" with Israel if necessary.

On Tuesday, Trump noted on Truth Social that he knew exactly where Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was "hiding." While indicating that Khamenei was "an easy target, but is safe there," Trump promised not to "take him out (kill!), at least not for now."

After indicating American "patience is wearing thin," Trump wrote, "UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!"

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