Senators and Congressmen who travel to Iraq typically go as part of a congressional delegation for a few days and then leave to report their findings to the public once they arrive home. Sen. Lindsey Graham recently went on such a visit with Sen. John McCain, but after McCain and his other colleagues left he changed into Air Force desert camouflage and served eight days with the Rule of Law Task Force in Iraq.

This makes him unique among his four colleagues that are reservists. Senator Graham is the only sitting elected official to have ever voted for a resolution authorizing use of military force and then served himself.

Sen. Graham recently returned from a nine day trip to Iraq–two days as part of a congressional delegation and seven days as anAir Force reservist. He has concluded that the surge is working as a result of his visit and service in-country.

In an interview on FoxNews Sunday Graham explained out the details of the sixteen Sheiks that were now working with us to secure the country. In comments to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal upon his return that we should know by early Fall about the will of the Iraqi people to control their country and that we needed Gen. Petraeus years ago. This cautious optimism after return is bolstered by his comment while on the delegation visit that Iraqis are resilient people.

Sen. Graham explains what he saw while in Iraq in his editorial “Progress and losses in Iraq,” which appeared in the State, a Columbia, SC newspaper.

He pointed out that their was more cooperation with tribal leaders in Anbar Province and that thy were encouraging young people to join the Iraqi police force. He was allowed into areas that were previously off-limits while with the delegation.

He was assigned with the Rule of Law Task Force while serving his week of
reserve duty. He saw cases brought before courts and saw up close that
nothing good happens without a price. The price in this case was Navy
Commander Phillip Murphy-Sweet, who had just extended his tour and was
optimistic about their mission. Murphy-Sweet was killed by an IED a day
after Sen. Graham met him.

He also reported a security problem at Camp Bucca where al-Queda detainees are held along with prisoners who are not dangerous. The prison was becoming a recruiting ground for the terrorists, but there was a plan to deal with the problem.

Since returning and from service and authoring the editorial Sen. Graham has been on CBS and CNN discussing what he learned in Iraq.

He told CBS the following:

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. There is a surge going on on the law front.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. There is a surge going on on the law front.

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 a part of it but not all of it. There is a surge going on on the law front. The Rule of Law Task Force was stood up on April first.

I looked at some detention issues, we have 19,000 people detained in American custody, and trying to create a better legal venue to hear their claims and keep the bad ones off the street who are a danger to our troops and the Iraqi government, and to let some of them go with supervision and to get the others tried in Iraqi criminal court.

One way to kill the insurgency beyond military force is to create a government that is fair to its citizens and the rule of law to me is about ‘what you did’ not ‘who you are’. We’re trying to break the politics of revenge and the cycle of revenge. Instead of killing someone who has killed a member of your family, we’re trying to create a legal system that will hold Shiias, Sunnis and Kurds accountable when they try to topple the government or kill innocent people. The old legal system was there to serve the dictator. The new legal system has to be there to serve all people not just one group of people… a jury of peers will decide your fate, not politicians or dictators.

The problem in Iraq is out of control violence. The number one target of the insurgency are judges. If you’re a judge in Iraq you’re an incredibly brave person. Because they just don’t try to kill you, they try to kill your family. So General Petraeus tried to build a compound in Baghdad for judges. Took an old army base, reinforced it, put housing on base for judges and their families and created a brand new courtroom a detention facility to hold people in the compound to give the judges confidence that if they did their job they could do it without fear. Within 60 days the American military took over this old Army base and just about completed all the housing as I speak, got the courtroom built in five days and reinforced the compound to provide security for the judges and their families.

April 1st, the day I got into the theater, the first trial was held in the Rule of Law Green Zone. An Iraqi judge heard two cases on the same day, one case involved a Shiite police officer, a very powerful captain in the police force who was accused of torturing Sunnis in the jailhouse. And it was an earthshaking event in Iraq because this person was well-known in the region from where he came and nobody believed that he would ever be held accountable because of his political connections.

The second case was a Sunni Al Qaeda operative who was accused of randomly killing Shiite civilians to
spark sectarian violence. On the same day you had a Sunni and a Shiite held accountable for trying to topple the government and to kill people of the other sect. And the judge was a Sunni. It is a small step toward breaking the politics of revenge where the legal system focused on what they did to a fellow Iraqi, not what their sect was. It was a brave,bold move by the judiciary to be  independent of sectarian violence.

There exists a large number of people in Iraq who want a different way of doing business, who are literally risking their own lives to change Iraq. And I do believe that with the right amount of support, that there is still hope that those who believe that the law should be about what someone does, not who they are, have a chance of winning in Iraq.

He also discussed the loss of his colleague, Commander Murphy-Sweet saying: “And he told me the story about how the American military, in conjunction with the Iraqi government, built this complex in 60 days, how they built the courtroom in five days, and it was a courtroom any state in our nation would be proud of. This was on a Friday. He was killed the next morning. Three young kids, beautiful wife, from Pennsylvania, killed by an IED.

And it hit me hard because I knew him. And I’m sure the other deaths in Iraq have hit their colleagues very 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 is that nothing good in Iraq happens without a sacrifice.”

Eye to Eye: Senator Lindsey Graham (CBS News)

This is the story that the media is not telling and needs to be considered. We should consider carefully the words of this senator who served in Iraq when he did not have to because he is exempted by DoD Directive 1200.7.

 See more photos of Sen. Graham’s time in Iraq.

Iglesias' Quest

Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias embraces the media in his quest for vindication

David Iglesias stands against the fence at the edge of his backyard worrying about the "ambience" - a rock that's supposed to bubble forth water at the flip of a switch.

It's not bubbling forth.

"I just got it fixed, too," he says, fetching a hose.

But just then, happily, comes the water. When his wife, Cyndy, calls some minutes later, he'll recount the scene in their shared language of Scripture.

Exclusive: The Only Senator To Serve In Iraq

Maybe it's his South Carolina roots. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has strong viewpoints on every important, controversial issue of the day, but manages to present them so logically and politely that it's hard to be offended, even if you disagree. In that understated fashion with the southern drawl, Sen. Graham talked exclusively with me about his recent experience serving as an active duty reservist in Baghdad: the first sitting U.S. Senator to serve in the Iraq War.


(AP)

It was last month. Sen. Graham joined Sen. John McCain on an official trip to Baghdad. What almost nobody knew at the time was that Sen. Graham then quietly broke away and did an official tour of duty as an Air Force Reservist. He's served in the Air Force for 25 years in the capacity of active duty, guard or reserve as an attorney, both for the prosecution and defense.

Heritage Foundation on the War Supplemental

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With American lives on the line, Congress should not hold troop funding hostage to special-interest spending nor try to usurp the President's authority.
Eliminate Pork, Support Troops
Where Congress Went Wrong

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Last week, Congress recklessly passed the Supplemental Spending Bill that President Bush has vowed to veto. Congress must send the President a law he can sign.
Next Steps for Congress
Declaring Defeat


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Congress has passed an unconstitutional and irresponsible Iraq funding bill. President Bush's promised veto is well warranted.
Feulner: President Must Veto Bill
Bill Undermines US-UK Alliance