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Warren Falsely Credits Lindsey Graham for McCain Peace Plan

Rips off Trump slam of Graham

January 14, 2020

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) appears to have lifted one of her debate stage zingers from President Donald Trump.

The Massachusetts senator on Tuesday evening accused Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) of supporting policies that would leave American troops in the Middle East for the next century.

"There are people on this stage, when it comes to Afghanistan for example, who talk about five more years, ten more years," Warren said. "Shoot, Lindsey Graham talks about leaving troops there for a hundred more years."

Graham, however, has never said anything of the sort. Warren appears to be working off of part of a speech Trump delivered numerous times in October, saying first that Graham "would like to stay there for the next 200 years" and then a week later that Graham "would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years."

It is also possible that Warren was confusing Graham with the late Sen. John McCain, who in 2008 said an American presence in Iraq could remain for 100 years as a stabilizing force of peace and prosperity as it had been in Germany and Japan.

"Maybe 100," McCain told CNN's Larry King. "As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it's fine with me, and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day."