Reply #13: He totally gets it

[loyalsister]

He understands what has happened in Afghanastan over time. He understands why we would be attacked because he is capable of empathy.
For those who haven't seen it, Charlie Wilson's war gives the timeline of how we got here.
We asked the people in Afghanistan to help us end the cold war by bring down the economy of the Soviet Union as they wasted money on a war we funded.
They took down the russians for us, got no credit, and we left them hanging afterwards. We didn't provide support to help rebuild their country that they deserved after helping us privately.

In terms of organizing, terrorists are not unlike some of the more radical "gangsters" of the US.
I am not sure where the lines are drawn between those who are actually committing the serious offenses and those who simply want to belong.
But, I would suspect that there may be people just like people who join gangs here, who sign up for terrorism and chicken out. Hate mate be a natural response but the actions that follow are not nacessarily automatic.

There are not very many people who would be willing to recognize or understand that, but Obama does.
He sees the terrorists as people.
He understands that the war needs to be dealt just like any area where we see violence in response to oppression.
This is a much deeper understanding of the problem than most leaders are willing to acknowledge or admit. We should be grateful that he is thinking beyong the standard, "shoot enough of 'em, we win, the problem will be solved strategy."


I have learned about this by talking with people who will vote against their own and thair neighbors self interest. Belief in belief is something that is difficult to combat.