Jim Abourezk, brawler, maverick U.S. senator dies

Senator who stood up for Indians battled President Carter over Panama Canal

When he recounted his wartime experience as a sailor during the Korean War, Jim Abourezk would often joke that he spent the war fighting over women in Japanese bars.

Abourezk was born to brawl, whether it was in bars, courtrooms or on the floor of the U.S. Senate, where he represented South Dakota from 1973 to 1979 as the first Arab-American senator. A p…