Here's An Idea - (Continued) Read the previous post first

6,000 US and more than 1,000 from allied countries.  That, according to a web site called icasualties.com is the number killed in Iraq and Afghanistan - so far.  So we have we have now done approximately twice as much harm to ourselves in our reaction to 9/11 as was done to us on that day.  Hmmmmm.  What if we forgot about countries of origin and just counted all innocent people including Iraqis and Afghans who have been killed or maimed?  Do you think we are at 100,000 yet?  We are responsible for this suffering in the sense that it would not have happened had we not chosen to respond with a military invasion.  Although our actions were not a sufficient condition, they were a necessary condition.  We could have unilaterally avoided these casualties.

Of course we have to consider the counter factual hypothesis, that is, what would have happened had we not done what we did.  Al Qaeda operatives or affiliates have had successes in Spain, London and Indonesia.  I don't think there is any way of knowing how many, if any, attacks were frustrated by our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it seems to me that it has been our defensive response, TSA etc, that has limited other attacks.  I do think it is a little naive to believe that we are going to frighten suicide bombers by successfully killing folks from their side as many pundits have opined this past week.  They are suicide bombers!!!!  Think about it.

And we did lose two tall buildings as well.  I read that they  approximately equaled the vacant office space in Manhattan on that day.  I made no attempt to look up the figures, but I have a hunch we could have built several replacement buildings with the money we have burned up fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In what way has this been an intelligent response?  Oh yeah.  It has made us feel tough, not like a bunch of pansy whimps.  Well, that's worth something I guess.