RIP Senator Lindsey Graham. I spoke with him many times over the years, primarily re war-on-terror detainee policy issues like Guantanamo & military commissions. He twice invited me to join congressional fact-finding trips to the war zone in Syria to scrutinize Kurdish-run prisons for ISIS detainees
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T11:46:08.622Z
In the Bush/Obama years, Graham aligned himself with Senator John McCain. He was a staunch opponent of torture but a strong supporter of handling terrorism cases using military detention and commissions rather than the civilian criminal justice system. charliesavage.com/2015/10/powe…
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T11:50:37.077Z
In my assessment, Graham started off as a pragmatic thinker (in a war you don’t torture captured enemies but you also don’t give them Miranda warnings/ lawyers before interrogating for intel) but hardened over the years into ideological dogma despite the lived experience that tribunals didn’t work.
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T11:57:26.359Z
But the dilemma was not simple. He noted that the world, despite condemning the US for Gitmo, was doing the same in Syria—outsourcing to Kurds indefinite detention of their citizens who joined ISIS bc of fear civilian prosecution couldn’t keep dangerous people secured www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/i…
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T12:04:10.696Z
Part of that 2018 trip was not about detainees. We visited an Arab town the Kurds had liberated from ISIS but the Turks wanted to push the Kurds out of. Graham spoke with local leaders trying to rebuild society at a cafe. Later a suicide bomber blew up that cafe. www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/r…
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T12:15:25.948Z
Graham and I related to each other mainly through the dynamic of nerding about detainee policy, which we established before Trump. My impression was he thought he could work Trump thru flattery. In Manbij, he told me the town should name a square after Trump so he would not pull US troops out.
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T12:21:35.754Z
We talked less over time as detainee policy issues faded, but he invited me again in 2022 to go to Syria, this time to look at where ISIS wives and children were being detained. He thought it was a shameful disaster than countries were not taking them back. www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/u…
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T12:23:50.553Z
When we came out of Syria in 2022 and landed at a military base, Graham got call and his demeanor changed and he moved away from the group to urgently talk. He had been subpoenaed to testify about calling Georgia’s Secretary of State when Trump was trying to overturn his loss of the 2020 election.
— Charlie Savage (@charliesavage.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T12:29:14.468Z