Four years after the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, we are still trying to comprehend their scope and effects, as we will be for decades to come. We will always mourn the loss of at least 2,986 of our fellow Americans. We still grapple with the reality that the attacks happened, and could happen again.
What does seem clear four years later is that the nation’s focus should be on making sure our homeland is as secure as humanly possible. This is where our money, resources and people-power should go. The war on terror being waged in Iraq is far too costly in terms of human life, specifically for innocent Iraqi citizens, which is the opposite intent of the occupation.
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States rightly went after al-Qaida bases in Afghanistan, and ousted the Taliban. Unfortunately, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has continued to escape capture. The war on terror then shifted to Iraq. The U.S. quickly toppled the government and has Iraq’s evil former dictator Saddam Hussein securely behind bars. But the war on terror soon became the Iraq war, with no real evidence it’s keeping us safer at home.
The 9-11 Commission, in its July 2004 report, concluded that “while contacts with Iraq (along with several other Middle Eastern and African nations) had been made, it found no ‘collaborative relationship’ between Iraq and al-Qaida regarding the September 11 attacks.”
Meanwhile, al-Qaida continues its attacks – from Saudi Arabia to Spain to London.
And thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens have been killed during the war on terror. These are numbers that we don’t read or hear about every day, but that every American should take to heart, because they are staggering.
According to iraqbodycount.org, a nonprofit organization that keeps a database of civilian deaths, the minimum number of civilians estimated killed by the military intervention in Iraq is 24,585. The maximum number is 27,799. The deaths are reported by mortuary officials and medics, by press agencies and Iraqi journalists. All deaths are independently reviewed and fact-checked by at least three members of the organization before being reported. The numbers include deaths resulting from the breakdown in law and order and deaths due to inadequate health care or sanitation.
Iraqbodycount.org joined with Oxford Research Group to publish a report on their findings, which include:
* Thirty percent of civilian deaths occurred during the invasion phase before May 2003.
* Post-invasion, the number of civilians killed was almost twice as high in the second year (11,351) as in the first year (6,215).
* Women and children accounted for almost 20 percent of all civilian deaths.
* U.S.-led forces killed 37 percent of civilian victims.
* Anti-occupation forces/insurgents killed 9 percent of civilian victims.
* Post-invasion criminal violence accounted for 36 percent of all deaths.
* At least 42,500 civilians were reported wounded.
As a democratic society that values human life and human rights, we have to find these numbers unacceptable. As a society that continues to mourn the loss of life from terrorist attacks – here and abroad – we have to find these civilian deaths unacceptable.
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