In The Feather Thief, Johnson explores multiple avenues of obsession. One such avenue is his own. Johnson becomes obsessed with the Tring heist in part because he is running from his own problems. He first became interested in the heist in 2011. At that time, he “felt trapped in a cage of [his] own creation” (7). While the Iraqi war was over, there were still thousands of Iraqi people stuck in their country. These Iraqi people helped the US during the war. Therefore, their compatriots deemed them as traitors. Despite their lives being at stake, the US government was slow to help their former allies. Johnson’s nonprofit, the List Project, was attempting to help Iraqi people flee Iraq and settle in the US. However, Johnson was facing several issues. The sheer number of Iraqi people who needed rescuing proved to be overwhelming. He also found it difficult to secure long-term funding. Johnson knew both issues would worsen with the war ending because the American public would no longer pay attention to the plight of its former allies. This meant that Congress would also turn a blind eye. He became obsessed with the Tring heist, partly as an escape from his own life.