First, those of you who believe that these people are just going to be set free are ignorant.
I couldn't be happier that we have a President who recognizes that 9/11 was the result of decades of foreign policy that ignored long term implications for expedient results. We meddled in the affairs of Sovereign nations in our own self interest without realizing that we might create some resentment among the civilians who were slaughtered by the tyrants we put in place or the wars we financed under the guise of supporting "freedom fighters". That's what Regan called his Mujahidin guerrilla fighters who fought in Afghanistan against the encroaching Russian Army. (PS. Bin Laden was among those "Freedom Fighters")
It's our history of hypocrisy and unilateral intervention that services or own short term self interests with complete disregard for the humanitarian toll left in the wake of our objectives that resulted in 9/11. All it takes is a quick reference to a single act of terrorism to somehow inspire some visceral patriotic U.S.A chanting and foot stomping among our more conservative posters.
As terrible as it was, 9/11 pales in comparison to the devastation wrought on other nation's civilians both in peace time and war. Your single minded patriotism compels you to have compassion for 9/11 victims but not the other innocent victims around the world because those foreigners could never have been you.
It's hard, you know, when you take away the black and white. All you have is grey. You realize that even hell-bent terrorists have motives with context. You realize that the USA is not on some grandiose pedestal of infallibility. What's hardest though... is when you realize that with all the turmoil we are directly responsible for in the world... that we haven't been on the receiving end of a whole lot more than the retaliations we've witnessed.
Obama does not sympathize with the terrorists. He realizes that to change the tide, to diminish the motive of those who wish us harm, he must change the way we do business. He must end the hypocrisy, avoid killing innocents, and hold ourselves to the same standards we expect from nations who are less powerful.
[taken from my post on cdsm]