A day to reflect ...
Today, the number of American and coalition deaths in the War on Terror equals the number of lives lost on 9/11. A sad coincidence?
On September 11, 2001, “the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked” by Islamic extremists. On that tragic day, 2,752 people died from these “unprovoked and dastardly” terrorist attacks. Thus were fired the opening volleys in the War on Terror and the War in Iraq.
Today, June 28, 2006, the number of American and coalition deaths in those wars now equals the number of deaths on September 11, 2001: 2,752 people.
This convergence of body counts is a sad coincidence, but is it anything more than that? Probably not. However, it should cause us to reflect on the results our 21<sup>st</sup> century wars have achieved for the United States.
Among the positive outcomes:
Today, June 28, 2006, the number of American and coalition deaths in those wars now equals the number of deaths on September 11, 2001: 2,752 people.
This convergence of body counts is a sad coincidence, but is it anything more than that? Probably not. However, it should cause us to reflect on the results our 21<sup>st</sup> century wars have achieved for the United States.
Among the positive outcomes:
- Saddam Hussein is in custody
- Several al Qaeda operatives are in custody and its operation has been disrupted
- Mohammed Atef, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, and other Al Qaeda leaders are dead
- The Taliban were deposed in Afghanistan
- Zacarias Moussaoui is in prison
- The hapless “Miami 7,” who lacked the capability to knock over a liquor store, much less the Sears Tower, were apprehended.
Among the negatives:
- At least 5,504 American and coalition-citizens’ lives have been lost
- Well over 40,000 Iraqis have also been killed
- The Department of Homeland Security was born
- The US invaded a sovereign nation, Afghanistan, resulting in regime change
- The US invaded on false pretenses a second sovereign nation, Iraq, resulting in regime change and civil war
- Terrorists have continued to successfully attack targets in the UK, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Tanzania, Kenya, Turkey, Indonesia, and elsewhere
- Oil companies enjoy record profits as Americans pay record-high prices for oil
- Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib have sullied America’s reputation in the world
- Americans’ civil liberties ranging from privacy to free speech have been curtailed.
We have achieved these outcomes at a cost of nearly $300 billion so far – more than 10 times the direct cost of 9/11. And we are paying the tab with our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s fortunes.
The War on Terror was, is, and will be a necessary fight. But we have to do a better job of planning, staffing, resourcing, managing, and financing it. Let’s at least wage the War on Terror in a manner worthy of the lives lost on 9/11 and the sacrifices made by military men and women everywhere since that tragic day. We are not doing that now.
The War on Terror was, is, and will be a necessary fight. But we have to do a better job of planning, staffing, resourcing, managing, and financing it. Let’s at least wage the War on Terror in a manner worthy of the lives lost on 9/11 and the sacrifices made by military men and women everywhere since that tragic day. We are not doing that now.
(Quoted phrases in first paragraph from FDR’s Pearl Harbor speech, December 8, 1941)
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