We were driving back to Canada after spending more than three years in Florida when the planes hit on September 11, 2001. We listened to National Public Radio (NPR) with disbelief as we drove north past temporary electronic road signs declaring "ALL ACCESS TO WASHINGTON DC CLOSED" and "ALL ACCESS TO NEW YORK CITY CLOSED". In fact we were just outside Washington DC getting a tire changed and watching on the shop TV as reports started coming in.

In the end nearly 3,000 people were killed, the world trade center was gone and the Pentagon scarred. In response the US and allies that included Canada, Britain etc. launched a massive retaliatory war against Iraq that would eventually enmesh Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now almost 10 years later the US has announced a withdrawal from Iraq to occur over the next 24 days leaving a small 50,000 person force till the end of 2011. So what was the cost of such a war? If Osama Bin Ladan (still alive by all accounts) and Al Qaeda were to be asked the question were the attacks on Sept. 11 worth it all what could they list:

– destruction of World Trade Center, an icon of western economic dominance
– initially 3,000 dead
– Pentagon breached, an icon of western military dominance
– another 200,000 (some estimates are as high as 650,000) Iraqi civilians dead
– a cost in $$$ to the United States of more than $1 trillion
– more than 5,600 American soldiers killed
– more than 500 British soldiers killed
– 151 Canadian soldiers killed
– 429 additional coalition soldiers killed
– for a total of more than 6,700 soldiers killed or almost 10,000 westerners when you include the Sept. 11th casualties.
– Osama Bin Laden: still alive
– Creation of Global fear on a level never before seen (terror)

This is war. Did Al Qaeda/Taliban achieve its goals? I would suspect they believe they did far beyond their wildest dreams. As far as their own casualties…well over 6,000, but like every group of commanders who feel their cause is just they would sacrifice everything including the lives of their people (just not their own).

Some would argue what the options were. What else was to be done? Who can say? These are simply numbers, ultimately God and history will judge the outcome but of those two only one will judge perfectly. In the end one wonders if it is even possible to follow the command "love your enemies" in a world such as ours. I can only assume it is possible because God commands it of us even at the cost of our own lives I suspect.