A week or so ago, Senator Lindsey Graham (R SC) suggested that someone in the ruling elite of Russia should assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the time something in the back of my mind triggered a response that said, is this a violation of the Geneva Convention? Well, I don’t know but it sounds rather ominous coming from an elected official of the United States Senate. But since no one caught it enough the first time to satisfy his need to be on the front burner of the mass media…he went for it again:
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reiterated his call on Wednesday for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assassination, comparing the Russian president to Adolf Hitler.
“Yeah, I hope he’ll be taken out, one way or the other,” said Graham when asked whether he stood by earlier calls for Putin’s death. “I don’t care how they take him out.”
“Vladimir Putin is not a legitimate leader, he is a war criminal. He needs to be dealt with by the Russian people,” he said. “I’m not asking to invade Russia to take them out. I’m not asking to send American ground forces into Ukraine to fight the Russian army. I am asking the Russian people to rise up and end this reign of terror for you and the world at large.”
I suppose that suggesting that Russians assassinate their own leadership puts him in a gray area…but this seems like a dubious stance to take for an elected official. I suggest that South Carolina remove Senator Graham via the ballot box…if they still have those in South Carolina when he’s up for re-election.
Is the Geneva Convention even relevant today? Pre-emptive(?) attack on Iraq, targeting civilians in Fallujah, not once, but twice, targeting women and children in Syria then proceeding with a cover up, really? What does the Geneva Convention say about those?