THE COST OF WAR SINCE 9-11-2001 (AND TOOLS TO WORK FOR PEACE)

Visiting the 9-11 Memorial for the first time, I perceived that the waterfall represented a torrent of tears to allow visitors to mourn and find solace.  

Photo by Peter Lalor 

Photo by Susan Cannon

However, I did not perceive that the monument would encourage visitors to atone for all violence and to work for peace among all people. I bemoaned the lost potential of the “9-11-moment” to enable the United States forge alliances of good will and peace immediately after the disaster.  I recalled my visit to Hiroshima, Japan, and the Peace Park’s overwhelming message: “Never again.”

Sadly, since 9-11-2001, according to the Brown University Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ 2018 “Costs of War” report, the United States has spent nearly $6 trillion on wars that have contributed to the deaths of around 500,000 people since the 9/11 attacks.  How many of us consider these staggering figures?  How many of us teach about them?

The annual report considers obvious and hidden war-related spending, including obligations for veterans’ care, debt, reconstruction costs, and the long-term effect on the U.S. economy. "The United States has appropriated and is obligated to spend an estimated $5.9 trillion (in current dollars) on the war on terror through Fiscal Year 2019, including direct war and war-related spending and obligations for future spending on post 9/11 war veterans…."

The study concludes: "In sum, high costs in war and war-related spending pose a national security concern because they are unsustainable. The public would be better served by increased transparency and by the development of a comprehensive strategy to end the wars and deal with other urgent national security priorities."

These are just the economic costs. What about the human costs? The Brown University report states: “All told, between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in the United States’ post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This tally of the counts and estimates of direct deaths caused by war violence does not include the more than 500,000 deaths from the war in Syria, raging since 2011, which the US joined in August 2014.”  The study goes on to discuss indirect deaths of civilians, journalists, and humanitarian workers, and ongoing human rights abuses, deterioration of the environment, displacement of citizens, and unsafe conditions for refugees.

  

Learn and Teach about the 9-11 Memorial 

When I taught middle school, I started each September with lessons on the 9-11 attack, focusing on past uses of terror (including by the Ku Klux Klan, a white, Christian terrorist group). I wanted my students to understand that terrorists are not from one race, religion, creed, or national background.  We analyzed media coverage and discussed ways various media manipulate consumers with hyperbole.  We observed the difference between information and sensationalism.  We discussed the difference between patriotism and nationalism, the resilience and determination of first responders and survivors, and the resolve students young and old can show as we work for a peaceful world.  The unit culminated in action coordinated with the International Day of Peace, commemorated annually on September 21.

In response to my visit to the 9-11 Memorial, I offer the following resources to teachers.  It is urgent that we take every opportunity to help our students understand the costs of violence and war and our ability and duty as citizens to prevent it.  The memorial offers us an entry to these lessons.

The memorial is somber and beautiful. I have shown videos of interviews with the architect Michael Arad to my students, and they have appreciated his goals. Links are below to help students envision the memorial through the eyes of the designer. Arad told ABC news he wanted to “create a place that allowed people to come together to reflect on what happened here, not alone but as a community in a public space where people gather and congregate…. Could I bring that idea of emptiness, this continuous presence, and making absence present and visible, and tangible to the site?” 

The 9-11 Memorial Website has deep education resources, including well-articulated goals that include ongoing research into the events of 9-11-2001, critical thinking about the aftermath, and promoting civic engagement and volunteerism. Lesson plans for various grade levels include such topics as grieving and heroism, making a memorial, and critical thinking about such topics as “airport security versus civil liberties.” 

·      9-11-Memorial & Museum Website Homepage: https://www.911memorial.org/memorial

·      Education Goals: https://www.911memorial.org/education-goals

·      Lesson Plans for various grade levels include critical thinking opportunities to allow students to explore topics such as “airport security versus civil liberties.” https://www.911memorial.org/lesson-plans

·      Architect Michael Arad’s Interview with ABC News Article (Good summary of designer’s goals): https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/09/911-memorial-offers-quiet-amid-new-york-chaos-designer-michael-arad-says/

·      Studio 360’s 4-Minute Video: 9/11 Memorial Tour With Architect Michael Arad  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xBfiJkratE

Making Absence Visible: Michael Arad at TEDxWall Street (12-Minute Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLKWiEeLIsU

Learn and Teach about the Cost of War

Painting by J. Kadir Cannon

If we and our students knew the true costs of war on soldier and civilian alike, on our environment, on our nation’s aging infrastructure, on our education and healthcare systems, on the potential for global security, and more—would we continue to support the military-industrial complex and its incessant drive to war?  I don’t think so.  It is our duty to learn and teach about the true costs of war.  These links are a good place to start.

Painting by J. Kadir Cannon

·      Brown University Costs of War Homepage: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/

• GOALS of the Costs of War Project: The project aims to help students consider alternatives to war and the long-term effects of war on the United States and the world in terms of economic, public health, and other human and ecological costs. Goals also include exploring how “to identify less costly and more effective ways to prevent further terror attacks.” (6-minute video) https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/about

·      Costs of War: Concise Summary: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/summary

·      Costs of War Overview: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures

·      Human Cost of War: the Human Toll of the Post 9-11 Wars (4-minute Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVr0MSEW2SU

·      Newsweek article: U.S. HAS SPENT SIX TRILLION DOLLARS ON WARS THAT KILLED HALF A MILLION PEOPLE SINCE 9/11, REPORT SAYS  Newsweek’s November 2018 Article on Brown University Report with charts and graphics helpful for analyzing data is best viewed on laptop or projected for discussion with students.  https://www.newsweek.com/us-spent-six-trillion-wars-killed-half-million-1215588

Learn and Teach about Civic Action

I’ve often quoted educator Sister Joan Magnetti's query: “We overwhelm children with all the suffering and evil in the world, but do we enable them to act?” Indeed, we must empower our students (and ourselves) to take action, even against seemingly insurmountable institutions such as militarism and war. These links are a good place to begin empowering students to take action large and small in their local and global communities.  Let's turn a torrent of tears into a torrent of action. 

·      Washington Post article: WHAT AMERICA COULD DO WITH EUROPEAN LEVELS OF MILITARY SPENDING  “Depending on which expert you ask, the chronic social ills the United States could go a long way toward addressing with an extra $3 trillion per decade include: homelessness, child poverty, college tuition costs, the national student debt burden, a lack of affordable child care and long-term health care for the elderly. It could also accomplish several key goals of the president, or go a long way to help balancing U.S. books….”   https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/07/12/what-america-could-do-with-european-levels-military-spending/

·      American Friends Service Committee links to Wage Peace: “Wage Peace uses creative and visual grassroots education and organizing to develop new constituencies for the intersection of peace and justice work, as we work toward a broadened and diversified movement of people who will support policies that challenge militarism at home and abroad, and support the growth and well-being of communities with their policymakers at all levels.”  https://www.afsc.org/key-issues/campaign/wage-peace

o   Links include https://www.afsc.org/key-issues/issue/federal-budget-priorities

o   Humanize not Militarize Educational Toolkit: https://www.afsc.org/resource/humanize-not-militarize-training-resources

·      Friends Committee on National Legislation has tools for approaching Congressional representatives on war budget issues

o   Endless War: https://www.fcnl.org/about/policy/issues/wars-militarism/endless-war

o   Pentagon Spending: https://www.fcnl.org/about/policy/issues/wars-militarism/pentagon-spending

·      Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots aims “to empower young people to affect positive change in their communities:” https://www.rootsandshoots.org

·      PeaceJam (Nobel Peace Prize Winners and Youth) Founders Dawn and Engel and Ivan Suvanjieff assert that “average, ordinary people can tackle the toughest issues facing humanity.”  http://www.peacejam.org

o   Billion Acts of Peace links to examples of youth action on demilitarization, clean environment, human rights, global health and wellness, conflict resolution, and more. https://billionacts.org

·      Sue Cannon’s Middle School lessons on media literacy from 9-11 to 9-21: https://thinkcareact.blogspot.com/2012/09/investigating-media-from-september-11.html

Susan Gelber Cannon, October 2019