# Sitting Senator lied about serving in Desert Shield and Desert Storm (Gulf War) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032 "2010-05-19T18:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/1 "2010-05-19T18:16:01Z")
From [Bob Somerby](http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh051910.shtml#GRAHAM): > [@](#): > > The flap about Graham began in February 1998, as the high-minded congressman was getting ready to lead the House in the impeachment of President Clinton. We can’t find active links to any reports from the period. But here are some basic chunks from the initial AP report: > > ``` > ASSOCIATED PRESS (2/19/98): U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham's military service record has been called into question because the Republican congressman, who never went overseas, calls himself as a Gulf War veteran. > > Graham's Internet web site biography lists him as an Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm veteran, although he never got closer to the war than McEntire Air National Guard Base near Columbia [South Carolina] where he was a military lawyer. > > Graham, who said Wednesday he never intended to mislead people, processed wills for soldiers deploying to the Gulf and helped their family members with legal issues. > > [...] > > In a statement released by his office Wednesday, Graham said, ''It makes me mad that some people would try to denigrate my military service record and that of thousands of others who served stateside during the war. I was called up and served on active duty ... I left my business, my home and friends to perform the duties I was trained for just as the veterans who served in past conflicts have done.'' > > ``` So, should the Senate vote to kick Lindsey Graham out on his sorry ass? The parallels to the case of [Richard Blumenthal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=563632) are, I hope, pretty obvious - except that the intent to deceive, in Graham’s case, goes way further, being a matter of publications rather than possible slips of the tongue in a speech. (So, what happened back in the 1998 flap? Graham was advised to present himself as a “Gulf War- **era** veteran,” he did, and everyone that mattered was OK with it.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/2 "2010-05-19T18:19:05Z")
While he didn’t technically lie, the implication of his resume is that he served in combat, which is patently false. He’s just another REMF who wants to pump up his image. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/3 "2010-05-19T18:41:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > While he didn’t technically lie, the implication of his resume is that he served in combat, which is patently false. He’s just another REMF who wants to pump up his image. Maybe the military has a term-of-art definition for “Operation XXX veteran” that includes support personnel who were never anywhere near the theatre of combat. But by the meanings that any ordinary American would apply to such things, being a veteran of a combat operation means, at a minimum, being on the same continent as where the combat’s taking place. I’d call it a lie. Do I think Lindsey Graham should be kicked out of the Senate on that account? No. Do I think the GOP should kick him out to preserve its integrity? Well, I don’t think the GOP has any integrity left anymore, but if I felt it did, I wouldn’t feel it was necessary for them to do this. But I do love Graham’s whine that "I left my business, my home and friends to perform the duties I was trained for just as the veterans who served in past conflicts have done.‘’ He was a native of South Carolina, stationed just outside of Columbia, SC. Speaking as someone who lived in that city for a few years, hardly anywhere in South Carolina is much more than 2 hours from Columbia. He may have left his home and friends, but was close enough that seeing them on weekends would have been pretty easy. All I can say is, gawd, what a weenie. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/4 "2010-05-19T18:49:17Z")
I can’t say I disagree. Voters have to make the call, but I think the behavior is pretty lousy. Of course, as long as we are pointing out examples, we really ought to mention Tom Harkin, who claimed for years that he flew CAP missions over Vietnam until Barry Goldwater called him on that. He then started describing himself as a Vietnam-era veteran. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/5 "2010-05-19T18:52:52Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > But I do love Graham’s whine that "I left my business, my home and friends to perform the duties I was trained for just as the veterans who served in past conflicts have done.‘’ He was a native of South Carolina, stationed just outside of Columbia, SC. > > Speaking as someone who lived in that city for a few years, hardly anywhere in South Carolina is much more than 2 hours from Columbia. He may have left his home and friends, but was close enough that seeing them on weekends would have been pretty easy. > > All I can say is, gawd, what a weenie. Same goes for the people who went all doe-eyed about Ronald Reagan’s “military service” when he never even had to leave Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/6 "2010-05-19T18:55:47Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Same goes for the people who went all doe-eyed about Ronald Reagan’s “military service” when he never even had to leave Hollywood. But you have to admit, Ronald Reagan DID single-handedly destroy the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/7 "2010-05-19T18:57:10Z")
And took down the Berlin Wall with one speech, like Joshua at Jericho. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/8 "2010-05-19T19:00:39Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Same goes for the people who went all doe-eyed about Ronald Reagan’s “military service” when he never even had to leave Hollywood. Reagan wasn’t deployable because he had terrible eyesight. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/9 "2010-05-19T19:06:29Z")
How convenient. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/10 "2010-05-19T19:08:31Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Reagan wasn’t deployable because he had terrible eyesight. Yeah, he couldn’t see getting shot at. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/11 "2010-05-19T19:12:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Yeah, he couldn’t see getting shot at. Ba-dum bum. You win the thread. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/12 "2010-05-19T19:18:50Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > So, should the Senate vote to kick Lindsey Graham out on his sorry ass? Not really. There’s nothing Graham had to sign (like at many jobs) where it said that an error discovered in his resume can be grounds for termination. Likewise, what he did wasn’t illegal and it’s pretty much impossible to prove that voters voted for him solely because of the military claims he made (as if that would make a difference anyway). So no. We can’t and the Senate shouldn’t kick him out. ---
**Author:** ![prodicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d9b06d/32.png) [@prodicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prodicus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/13 "2010-05-19T19:21:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Yeah, he couldn’t see getting shot at. Thanks, I just had to explain to co-workers the strange noise I just made. I said it was a sneeze. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/14 "2010-05-19T19:29:16Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And took down the Berlin Wall with one speech, like Joshua at Jericho. Freed the Iranian hostages, too, just by taking the oath of office. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/15 "2010-05-19T19:30:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Yeah, he couldn’t see getting shot at. Funny - I never got shot at when I was in either. Most people in the military don’t - as you well know. Reagan enlisted, lost a good bit of money and never regained the stature he had in films after the war. It wasn’t his fault he had bad eyes. And let’s be fair - he was on active duty all those years, and not pulling a John Wayne. Do you have some kind of cite showing that he used unfair means to stay stateside? Because everything I have read - even cites very critical of Reagan policies later, generally state that he was too nearsighted to fight. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/16 "2010-05-19T19:40:57Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Funny - I never got shot at when I was in either. Most people in the military don’t - as you well know. > > Reagan enlisted, lost a good bit of money and never regained the stature he had in films after the war. It wasn’t his fault he had bad eyes. And let’s be fair - he was on active duty all those years, and not pulling a John Wayne. But he, too, lied about his military service, claiming that he [helped liberate](http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/blumenthal/2004/06/17/reagan_clinton/) the Nazi concentration camps in WWII. The impression I’m getting is that telling whoppers about one’s military service is a pretty frequent event among politicians even at the highest level. Seems that we’d have to treat the class as a class - treat Reagan, Bush, Graham, Harkin, and Blumenthal all the same. Either none of them has/had any business being in high office, or this should be seen as disqualifying to none of them. I’m gonna go with ‘none.’ There really aren’t a whole lot of saints among politicians. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/17 "2010-05-19T20:41:31Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > But he, too, lied about his military service, claiming that he [helped liberate](http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/blumenthal/2004/06/17/reagan_clinton/) the Nazi concentration camps in WWII. That’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/18 "2010-05-19T20:56:49Z")
Is this a peculiarly American institution? I can’t believe that any of my fellow veterans from the Battle of Waterloo would lie about our military service. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/19 "2010-05-19T21:00:59Z")
And there’s \*another \*madman who thinks he’s Napoleon … ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032/20 "2010-05-19T21:13:41Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Funny - I never got shot at when I was in either. Most people in the military don’t - as you well know. > > Reagan enlisted, lost a good bit of money and never regained the stature he had in films after the war. It wasn’t his fault he had bad eyes. And let’s be fair - he was on active duty all those years, and not pulling a John Wayne. > > Do you have some kind of cite showing that he used unfair means to stay stateside? Because everything I have read - even cites very critical of Reagan policies later, generally state that he was too nearsighted to fight. Hey, you can’t feed me a straight line like that and expect me to just let it lie there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitting-senator-lied-about-serving-in-desert-shield-and-desert-storm-gulf-war/540032.md?page=2)