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.