State Dept. Official: US Can't 'Kill Our Way Out Of This War' With Islamic State

From Talking Points Memo:

"But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war," she continued. "We need in the medium- and longer-term to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups, whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs --"

Matthews stepped in to challenge Harf on that point.

"We're not going to be able to stop that in our lifetime, or 50 lifetimes," he said. "There's always gonna be poor people, there's always gonna be poor Muslims. As long as there are poor Muslims, the trumpet's blowing, they'll join. We can't stop that, can we?"

Harf responded that the U.S. government can work with terror-stricken countries to improve their systems of government and boost their economies to produce more job opportunities. 

More here.

Chris Matthews is among the biggest idiots on television, which is an accomplishment in itself, given the competition. But the woman he's attacking here has it more or less right, which gives me some hope because she works for the state department: until we deal with the living conditions that make terrorism seem like a damned fine idea, terrorism will be a permanent way of life for desperate populations in the Middle East, one that simply cannot be eradicated with ever increasing levels of violence.

Why is this so difficult for Americans to understand? 

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