When the US death toll in Iraq crossed 1,000 last week, the number seemed like a shocker. However, that figure pales in comparison with the 30,000 Afghans and Iraqis estimated to have died in the War on Terror.It is also worth noting that it is not clear that the "War on Terror" has thus far yielded tangible results in terms of reducing the terror threat.
The total figure of 30,000 is more than the number of people killed in terrorist acts in the last 35 years - studies show 22,000 people have been killed in terrorist incidents since 1968.
The cost of reconstruction and related aid has been estimated at $23 billion in Iraq and $30 billion in Afghanistan which seems much smaller than the $100 billion loss caused by the WTC attacks. But while the WTC losses translate to 0.91% of US GDP, it amounts to 59% of Iraq's GDP and 150% of Afghanistan's GDP in 2003.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
War Or Terror: What's Worse?
This is an interesting review of casualties of the "War on Terror" vs the losses the world suffered from terrorism itself in the recent decades.