Over the past 23 years, I’ve written several essays reflecting on 9/11. I’m going to write another one.
On 9/11, I mourn the 2,977 innocent people who were murdered by the 19 terrorists in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania. I pray for them. I also mourn the 347 firefighters who died on that day. I mourn the 300 (or more) first responders who have lived with illnesses directly related to their heroic efforts on that day. I pray for them, too. I pray for the families who were left behind, and I mourn them for the unimaginable suffering they’ve endured. They are victims, too.
The death toll from 9/11 does not stop with the innocents killed on that day. Thousands of American service members died in wars on terror after that. Hundreds of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, and elsewhere have paid the ultimate price for crimes they had nothing to do with.
We can’t undo the damage done by the 19 hijackers or by the “Global War on Terror” that was unleashed in response. What we can do, however, is be better informed about the costs of these wars.
It is important to remember the victims of this anniversary. This is respectful and healthy for our collective psyche as a society.
What is not healthy for us is moving on without taking time to understand the costs of the global war on terror. We owe it to the victims, to those who have died since, to ourselves, and the prospect of a less bloody future to understand the costs of war. It’s the least we can do.
Brown University’s Washington Institute has a project called The Costs of War.
The Costs of War project conducts and publishes research to facilitate debate about the ongoing consequences of the United States post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere; the costs of the U.S. global military footprint; and the domestic effects of U.S. military spending. Created in 2010 and housed at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the Costs of War project builds on the work of over 60 scholars, experts, human rights advocates, and physicians from around the world.
Some things I’ve learned so far from the Costs of War Project include:
7053 U.S. Service Members have been killed;
at least four times as many active duty personnel and war veterans of post-9/11 conflicts have died by suicide than in combat;
432,093 civilians have also been killed;
680 journalists have been killed;
896 humanitarian workers have been killed;
$14 trillion has been spent (one-third of this amount to private contractors);
a domestic mass surveillance system has been put into place, and
our military footprint has expanded globally (78 countries we know of).
These are some of the direct costs of war. Furthermore, according to the Watson Institute, an estimated 3.6 to 3.8 million people have died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones, and these wars have created 38 million war refugees and displaced persons.
It is patriotic to ask questions about who profits from all of this killing, death, and destruction. It is our duty as citizens of a democratic society to hold our leaders accountable so that our all-volunteer military is not sent to faraway lands to risk their lives without a legitimate self-defense objective. We also have to ensure that our tax dollars, which might otherwise be spent at home to feed, house, and care for our most vulnerable people, are not paid to line the pockets of private contractors who profit from war.
Last but not least, we owe it to humanity to ensure that the most powerful nation in human history takes care to protect innocent lives wherever our bombs, tanks, jets, ships, and missiles are deployed.