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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the most prominent supporters of war in Washington, has died at the age of 71 after what his office called a "brief and sudden illness." He was a vocal supporter of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, a leading backer of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and a proponent of more U.S. military support for Ukraine. He also pushed for a permanent occupation of Afghanistan and once called for a preemptive attack on North Korea.
Graham "never met a war of aggression that he didn't passionately back," says Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, who adds that the late senator also had a "slavish dedication to Israel over the interests of the United States and the rest of the world."
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The South Carolina Republican was Ukraine's most influential champion inside President Trump's mostly "America First" political orbit.
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He died from "a brief and sudden illness" on Saturday evening, his office said. Over more than two decades in the Senate, he consistently pushed for the use of U.S. military power overseas.
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By the standards of the aging Senate, where the average age is more than 65, the South Carolina Republican wasn't particularly old.
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The Republican senator denied that he had suffered a heart attack and said he had left the hospital and moved to a physical rehabilitation center. He did not give a timetable for returning to Capitol Hill.
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