Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a scathing opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal harshly criticizing the Trump administration’s unwillingness to properly censure the Saudi regime’s killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“Given the evidence U.S. intelligence has gathered on Khashoggi’s killing, denying the crown prince’s involvement amounts to willful blindness,” wrote Graham, a South Carolina Republican. “Failing to censure him would give authoritarians a green light to murder their critics.”
Graham said he has supported the Saudis for years and agrees with President Donald Trump that Riyadh remains a strategic ally, but stressed “it is not too much to ask an ally not to abuse civilized norms, and the extrajudicial killing of a journalist in a diplomatic facility is nothing if not uncivilized.”
He also emphasized that “America has a strong hand in dealing with Saudi Arabia and the leverage to demand better,” adding that this “isn’t downgrading the relationship; it’s a sign that Americans take our principles seriously and won’t be taken advantage of by anyone, friend or foe.”
In addition, the senator pointed out, “The fear that the Saudis will stop cooperating with the U.S. on terrorism or Iran isn’t rational. Those threats pose as much of a danger to the Saudis as they do to America.”
Graham has been a leading force in the Senate to publicly rebuke the Saudi government despite the White House's unwillingness to do so and has particularly criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for accusing senators of grandstanding on the issue, according to Politico.
Graham voted for advancing a resolution last week that would end U.S. support for Saudi involvement in the Yemen civil war, despite Pompeo’s warning that it would undermine the possibility for peace, stressing that Congress is a coequal branch of government.
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