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October 17, 2006 This national debate rages over an essential question: Can the security interests of the United States be met while affording suspected terrorists due process under our system of laws, or is due process as we’ve known it for over 200 years, a luxury we can no longer afford? Should we, as a nation, try terrorists with secret evidence that they are not permitted to see? Must we alter one of the bedrocks of American justice and 200 years of American judicial procedure by withholding classified evidence from defendants while giving it to a jury that has the power to put them to death? South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Washington’s most influential Senators and leading experts on military justice, is at the epicenter of this debate. He brings his perspectives on leadership, the debate over torture and terrorism and America’s place in the world to NC State on Oct.17. Graham, a former military attorney, has stepped into the center of the debate, which has, at times placed him at odds with the Bush Administration. In a polarized political atmosphere in which compromise is often a casualty, Graham’s ability to build bridges, work the middle, and provide leadership will be essential to developing solutions that meet security concerns consistent with our system of American justice, and preserve our moral authority in the world. Last year, against the wishes of the Bush administration, Graham was one of the key forces in helping pass a ban on torture. More recently, he has raised questions about the judicial nomination of the Pentagon general counsel who helped write a memorandum that defined torture only as treatment that causes pain similar to death or major organ failure. Instead of supporting the position that terrorists deserve no legal or human rights, Graham has championed the Geneva Convention. In a recent New York Times interview, Sen. Graham said, “What I'm trying to do with my time in the Senate during this whole debate we're having is to remind the Senate that the rules we set up speak more about us than it does the enemy. The enemy has no rules. They don't give people trials, they summarily execute them and they're brutal, inhuman creatures. But when we capture one of them, what we do is about us, not about them. Do they deserve, the bad ones, all the rights that are afforded? No. But are we required to do it because of what we believe? Yes.” Graham is a native South Carolinian and the first in his family to get a college degree. He logged six-and-a-half years of service on active duty as an Air Force lawyer and also serves in the South Carolina Air National Guard. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 and the Senate in 2002. Graham serves on four committees in the U.S. Senate: Armed Services, Judiciary, Budget, and Veterans Affairs. Graham draws on his experience of growing up in the South Carolina textile town of Central, of losing both his parents when he was barely into his 20s and adopting his sister, and serving as a lawyer in military courts. From 1984-1988, he was assigned overseas and served at Rhein Mein Air Force Base in Germany. Upon leaving the active duty Air Force in 1989, Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard where he served until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. During the first Gulf War, he was called to active duty and served stateside at McEntire Air National Guard Base as Staff Judge Advocate where he prepared members for deployment to the Gulf region. His duties included briefing pilots on the law of armed conflict, preparing legal documents for deploying troops, and providing legal services for family members of the South Carolina Air National Guard. He received a commendation medal for his service at McEntire. Since 1995, Graham has served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and is the only senator currently serving in the Guard or Reserves. He is a colonel and is assigned as a Reserve Judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Previous Speakers: |
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