As we recall the wanton destruction and massacre of nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens and the extraordinary acts of heroism a decade ago, let us not lose sight of what has transpired in the intervening years.
We must be mindful of the subsequent deaths of more than 6,000 soldiers, 2,300 contractors and hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi soldiers, policemen and civilians.
These scenes of destruction are repeated thousands of times along with the decimation of the countries’ infrastructure.
If you include both the next decade’s interest payments on the debt-financed wars and future veterans’ benefits, the total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is now estimated to reach more than $5 trillion. (emphasis added)
The human and emotional costs of 9/11 can never be measured. What price does one put on the nearly 3,000 innocent lives lost, or the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, contractors and civilians who died or were maimed during a decade of war triggered by the suicidal assaults by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists, who bore nothing more deadly than box cutters?
Living the history, as we all have, I’m left with this one thought…
Curt Preston 9/10/2011.