9/11 by the numbers

A sampling of facts and figures compiled a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States

 

U.S. debt in 2001: $5,807,463,412,200.06

U.S. debt in 2010: $13,561,623,030,891.79

Total costs appropriated by Congress for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of Fiscal Year 2011: $1.26 trillion

Amount spent on war in Iraq: $797.3 billion

Amount spent on war in Afghanistan: $459.8 billion

Number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq: 4,474

Number killed in Afghanistan: 1,760

Number of people, including first responders, killed in terror attacks on World Trade Center: 2,753

Date the last victim of the WTC attacks was added to the death count: June 17, 2011

Number of veterans who have returned home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: 1.25 million

Percentage of those treated at VA medical facilities since returning: 52 percent

Cost of their treatment: $32.6 billion

Days after 9/11 that the neoconservative think tank, the Project for the New American Century, published a letter demanding that President George W. Bush invade Iraq, “even if evidence does not link Iraq directly” to 9/11 attacks: 9

Number of days after 9/11 that President George W. Bush signed Afghanistan War Plan and urged Pentagon to prepare for an invasion of Iraq as well: 6

Amount U.S. taxpayers will pay for proposed Department of Defense budget for Fiscal Year 2011: $553 billion

Number of elementary school teachers who could be paid for one year with the same amount of money: 8.1 million

Amount Orange County taxpayers will contribute to that number: $1.6 billion

Number of local elementary school teachers who could be paid for one year with that amount of money: 26,228

Number of FBI special agents working on terrorism matters in 2001: 1,351

Number of FBI special agents working on terrorism matters in 2004: 2,398

Number of terror attacks against U.S. targets planned by Muslims in 2010: 10

Number planned by non-Muslims: 20

Number of people killed worldwide due to terrorist attacks in 2009: 14,971

Number who were U.S. citizens: 25

Approximate number of murders in the United States since 9/11: 150,000

Number of mosques in the U.S. in 2000: 1,209

Number in 2011: 1,925

Number of proposals to build mosques in the U.S. that have met with community resistance over the past three years: 37

Number of those in Florida: 2

Percent of Muslims in 2011 who said that being a Muslim in the U.S. has become more difficult since 9/11: 55

Number of days after 9/11 that the U.S. started bombing Afghanistan: 26

Number of days after 9/11 that President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act: 45

Percent of Americans who said in a 2001 Pew Research Poll that it was necessary to give up civil liberties to curb terrorism: 55

Percent who felt that way in 2011: 40

Department of Homeland Security budget request for fiscal year 2012: $57.0 billion

DHS budget request for fiscal year 2002: $18.2 billion

Number of Advanced Imaging Technology units (full-body scanners) DHS has installed at Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at U.S. airports in 2011: 488

Number Homeland Security hopes to have operational if its 2012 request is approved: 1,275

Amount of Homeland Security budget earmarked to reach that goal: $105.2 million.

Year in which the Federal Emergency Management Administration introduced a coloring book for kids called “A Scary Thing Happened” that featured an image of a jet plane headed for the smoldering World Trade Center towers on its cover: 2003

Year that coloring book was removed from FEMA’s website: 2009

Year that Really Big Coloring Books released its coloring book called “We Shall Never Forget 9/11: A Kid’s Guide to Freedom,” which features drawings of U.S. soldiers taking aim at Osama bin Laden, while he uses a woman in a burqa as a human shield: 2011

Cost of that book: $6.99

Number of copies sold during its first print run: 10,000

For source materials, please visit our blog post at this link.