BARACK’S POINT GUARD

The Aide Who Went to War

How a year in Iraq changed an Obama adviser.

By Richard Wolffe | NEWSWEEK
Published Jul 19, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Jul 28, 2008

« Return to Article

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: Galasso @ 07/19/2008 8:42:39 PM

    If Lippert worked with Leahy, he was already commited to the socialist democratic left before he ever deployed. Working "with" Navy Seal invites a lot of questions about his level of responsibility and what he actually saw in Iraq.. Seals go through the door. If Lippert was a support weenie - analyst - tech - or involved in FID in a secure area ansd never saw the elephant - - why does this have anything to do with his expertise in the Obama campaign?

    • Posted By: poneal @ 07/29/2008 11:57:23 AM

      If you had read the article you would have been able to discern the obvious:
      He is a RESERVIST - Operational Navy Seals are FULL TIME

      He said he worked at the TACTICAL LEVEL of OPS = whatever orders he gave came from higher up the
      food chain, and he dealt directly with the results of those orders.

      There are no 'weenies' in the Special Ops, and FID is a part of every SOF

      There is no better way to gain understanding for a given situation than to garner advice from all levels of management:

      Lower;Mid;Upper - As a Captain his advice would be coming from an upper mid level managers perspective, and by the way the the man graduated from STANFORD.

    • Posted By: freecitizen @ 07/25/2008 2:17:02 PM

      It's always sad when you see somebody discount the views and experiences of others based on some cheap labels they opt to apply in place of actually thinking about the issues at hand. I understand that thinking doesn't come naturally for everybody, but surely killing somebody with your bare hands is not the ONLY prerequisite path towards enlightenment.

  • Posted By: tompte @ 07/27/2008 11:55:36 AM

    i believe that the notion of national service and the drafteshould be re-instituted. the so called volunteer army idea was wrong for the USA. it's primary goal was to allow the privileged to escape military service. after high school all persons [ male and female] should be OBLIGATED to serve 2 years in the military. if there's no war, they're lucky. If there is a war, not so lucky. ABSOLUTELY NO DEFERRMENTS: NOT MARRIAGE, NOT EDUCATION, NOTHING !!!

  • Posted By: Perusing-through @ 07/22/2008 2:41:20 AM

    THIS IS HILARIOUS - "CHANGE" HAS ALREADY STARTED

    Before Obama's run . . . Bush/McSame said any timetable was off the table. Now that Obama has pushed for timetables, every Democrat & Republican including Bush is talking timetables.

    Before Obama . . .Bush/McSame said troop withdrawals was the same as "cut and run". Now with Obama the Iraqis, Americans, and politicians alike are saying its time to come home. All except McSame.

    Before Obama . . . Bush/McSame said it was appeasement to have any form of dialogue with Iran. Now after Obama insisted he would talk with Iran under the right conditions, suddenly Bush & Rice are in back-channel communications with Iran.

    Before Obama . . . The Religious Right claimed it not possible to be a Democrat or Independent and still be a Christian. With Obama, a Democrat may outwardly where his/her Christian views and not be attacked by the hypocritical Religious Right.

    Before Obama . . . Democratic nominees took taxpayer funded campaign welfare. Now Democrats turn down campaign welfare.

    Before Obama . . . The world hated us and wished us ill-will. Now with Senator Obama in striking distance of the Presidency, the U.S is being cheered as admiration for America vaults skyward.

    Before Obama . . . Lobbyist ran rampant & reckless over middle-class interest. With Obama in striking distance, lobbyists are running desperate and scared.

    Before Obama . . etc. . . etc. . . etc.

    GOD Bless America!
    GOD Bless Obama!

    • Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 07/22/2008 9:06:49 PM

      If you believe this, then you are a true Obamabot who has had too much of the Democrat kool-aid.

      • Posted By: steve02001 @ 07/23/2008 9:16:14 PM

        I think you are the one drinking the kool-aid Jimbo, the "GOP kool-aid" dispensed by McBush: stay in Iraq for 100 years, don't talk to Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, et al., make the Bush tax breaks permanent damn the budget, etc, etc. Jimbo you are backing a man that doesn't know that Chekoslovakia doesn't exist anymore and thinks Pakistan borders Iraq. Scarry

        • Posted By: jimbo3800 @ 07/25/2008 10:00:29 PM

          And you are backing a Senator that doesn't know what committee's he sits on. Oops, that's right, he knows, he was simply lying for the sake of expediancy. Really scary!

  • Posted By: neos @ 07/25/2008 12:58:10 PM

    Will not vote Obama. What happened was this. During the terms of office of the last 5 Republican presidents the US government and the US debt grew larger .. All of them grew the government and never balanced the budget. Now we are 9 trillion plus in debt. The only president who left office with a smaller federal government and a budget surplus was a democrat - Hillary's husband. Better tax and spend Democrats than borrow and spend Republicans. And if taxes.pre se. are so bad, then why do the richest countries in the world (measured by gross Domestic Product per capita) all have higher tax bases then we do?

  • Posted By: jamalcarnette@comcast.net @ 07/22/2008 1:53:46 PM

    Will not vote Obama--have you actually done the research on which party initiated these taxes???
    I think you will be surprised--but you would never do this because it might change your mind! Most of these taxes and the biggest spending increases have happened under Republicans.

  • Posted By: Cloudosmoke @ 07/21/2008 3:47:11 PM

    Out of the Box foreign policy. Glad to get away from the politics of yester-year. I would like to see a consolidation of branches for better information gathering. Too many branches of government shooting themselves in the foot.

  • Posted By: Anju Chandel @ 07/21/2008 1:12:02 AM

    Hope Mark Lippert's first hand experience of Iraq's war will aide him in being an adept foreign policy advisor to Senator Obama.

  • Posted By: Eire52 @ 07/19/2008 10:46:15 PM

    Comment:

    Since we don't know what Mr. Lippert's job with the Navy Seals was in Iraq , why the snarky comment? As Richard Wolfe so rightly points out -- the point is, he was there - on the ground, in Iraq. And as he also rightly points out - he spent a lot more time there than any of Sen Obama's critics have . He probably heard and saw things that will be of great value to anyone forming policyy on Iraq . I say thank God he works for Sen Obama .

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse