US Senator Lindsey Graham Dies at 71 After Brief Illness
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- US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, passed away Saturday evening at age 71 following a brief illness.
- Graham, a key ally of Israel and Ukraine, had recently returned from a trip to Ukraine.
- World leaders, including Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, mourned his death.
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US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away on Saturday evening after a brief and sudden illness, his office announced in a statement on X.
The veteran Republican lawmaker from South Carolina was 71 years old.
Graham had just returned from a trip to Ukraine prior to his death.
Who was Lindsey Graham?
Early in his career, Graham was a lawyer for the US Air Force, according to the bio on his website. He was stationed at the Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany between 1984 and 1988.
During the Gulf War, as a Staff Judge Advocate, he prepared service members for deployment.
He was elected to the US House of Representatives from South Carolina's third congressional district in 1994.
In 2002, Graham was elected to the US Senate and re-elected in 2008, 2014 and 2020.
A key ally of Israel and Ukraine in the Senate
In his early career, Graham was a staunch supporter of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 during the presidency of George W. Bush.
Later on, Graham had expressed opposition to then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2015, calling Trump a "race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot." Graham later U-turned and became one of Trump's closest allies in the Senate when Trump became president in his first term from 2017 to 2021.
Graham is one of the most ardent backers of Israel in the Senate and is also an ally of Ukraine. He also pushed for the current US military operations against Iran.
How has the world reacted to Graham's death?
Trump hailed Graham as "one of the greatest people and senators I have ever known" and a "true American patriot."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel has lost one its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend."
The speaker of Ukraine's Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, called Graham a "steadfast friend of Ukraine, who well understood that our struggle is a fight for freedom, democracy and a just world order."
Graham was also an advocate for the Kurdish people, particularly in their fight against the "Islamic State." Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, said "the people of Kurdistan will always remember his friendship and steadfast support."
Edited by: Karl Sexton
