Economy of Global Terror

Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler are people who belong to two different ideological worlds. Ironically, they both shared a common fate. When President Obama announced that bin Laden was killed, exactly the same day 66 years before, the German government had also announced to the world that Hitler was killed.

Both of them had terrorized the world and caused deaths of an uncountable number of people, both innocent and not innocent. We are not able to bring up basic solutions without making a physical and moral statement about the global terrorism that seems to have reappeared at the center of the global media’s attention by killing Osama bin Laden. When Americans’ recent problems are considered, the result of terrorism does not only consist of casualties and material losses. The major damage of terrorism is that it paralyzes the social identity, common sense and the soul of a state.

Throughout history, Americans have been through various internal and external fights. However, there is no other enemy that cost more than what bin Laden has cost Americans. Bin Laden, with a little group, has cost much more than what any other organized armies could’ve done to America. In this case, bin Laden could have been considered the most costly fighter in history. In 1998, America put a $5 million prize for bin Laden’s head. Yet, this price is far from the fact when terrorism’s actual expenses are considered. According to academic sources and the American Congress, the total economic cost of Sept. 11 to the U.S. is approximately $2 trillion. The cost of the invasion of Iraq is $806 billion, Afghanistan is $443 billion, and the advancement of security is $690 billion. According to many economists, Sept. 11 was one of the major factors in the global economic crisis. The Central Bank of America has printed many banknotes and kept interest rates low for a long time in order to lessen the economic effects of the terrorist attacks and the wars that occurred right after Sept. 11; nevertheless, these triggered the global crisis by inflating of the stock market balloons and mortgages.

Professor Dr. Stiglitz, who was a former head economist at the World Bank and a Nobel Prize winner, claims that the cost of Sept. 11 is a lot more than what was expected; in fact, he believes the cost of the Iraq war for the U.S. is $3 trillion. According to Stiglitz, the Iraq war has decreased the income of Americans by causing extreme unrestricted money policies and rising oil prices. In fact, the real damage of the Iraq war is that it ruined the basic structure of the American economy. The future of Americans has been put at risk by cutting the budgets for research and development projects because of spending trillions of dollars on the war. Material losses and casualties may have been recovered at some point. However, as a state, it is very hard to recover credibility and prestige once they are lost. After Sept. 11, the unlawful and excessive reactions of the U.S. have taken away what is known as a liberal, democratic and exemplary state; yet, these reactions have brought a despotic and an aggressive new U.S. that dictates that others are “either with me or with the terrorists” and challenges its enemies and allies alike. Nevertheless, after 10 years, unsuccessful wars and global crisis have proved that the real power of the U.S., which has the highest defense budget in the world, is not a “muscle power” but it is being “legitimate /rightful.” Apparently, no one can take the world under their control unless they can reach the people’s hearts and intelligence.

For years, economists have considered that development is just an economic issue. However, economic development is possible only where there are order, justice and basic institutions. We shall not forget that the U.S. and European countries primarily gained their freedom and civil rights from the American War of Independence and the French Revolution, and then they were able to achieve an industrial revolution. Sustainable development is a complicated matter. Thus, the Social Science Institute of Columbia University has been conducting their sustainable development projects with a group that includes physicists, ecologists, engineers, economists, political scientists, businessmen, public health specialists and doctors. Similarly, the World Bank, which is aware that development is not just an economic problem, has researched the correlations among “Conflict, Security and Development” in its recent 2011 publication of the World Development Report. This 325-page report is a serious work that is prepared by hundreds of institutions and specialists. The main message of the report is that if there is no rightful public order, there will not be law and order in a state; without the rule of law, the economy can not progress. There are 1.5 billion people who have suffered civil wars in the world. The most terrifying harm for a state is neither earthquake, tsunami nor tornado, but anarchy. It takes generations to recover from the harm of civil conflicts. Internal conflicts take away 30 years of savings out of a state. It takes 20 years to put the trade system back on track. Poverty is 20 percent higher in countries where civil conflicts have occurred. None of the countries that have public order problems have achieved any of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.

Security is an expensive service. To deal with Somalian pirates cost $2 billion per year. Many businessmen who work in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia have emphasized that their major problem is security. These problems have been hurting everyone even though they have been occurring in distant locations. Conflicts in the Middle East have caused oil prices to rise 20 percent and harm Americans financially. Once terror and civil conflict begin in a state, it is quite hard to get rid of them. In the last 10 years, 90 percent of conflicts in the world have occurred in countries where internal conflicts already existed. Therefore, it is crucial that conflicts be avoided before they appear; once the genie gets out of the lamp, it is very hard to put it back. The report indicates that the sources of the violence are a high rate of unemployment (especially among young people), political and economic exclusion, corruption, poverty, inequality (regional, religious, ethnic and income), international crime organizations and foreign forces. The report recommends that in order to resolve the conflicts, priorities should be known; before any progress can be made, the trust of the local people should be regained. The report advises that enough coalition groups should be provided; some crucial decisions should be made at an early stage; reformation of security and justice should be applied right away, and be acted upon pragmatically; and be patient for the necessary reforms. As known, a body would be defenseless against any kind of harm if its immune system collapsed. Building strong institutions that preserve justice, security and employment is the most effective method to protect and deal with the social and economic order of a state.

As a matter of fact, the world has been in its most peaceful time, despite all the rumbles of the Western countries that have been rising. International wars have been almost disappearing. The number of civil wars and conflicts has decreased by 50 percent. Whereas causalities of civil wars numbered 164,000 in 1980, they decreased to 42,000 in 2000. Most of these conflicts have been occurring outside of the Western countries. Yet, it is the Western countries who cry out about it. After Sept. 11, the U.S. announced the “war on terror” and rearranged its foreign policy according to its security. It has attacked any place, even if the possibility of a threat was only 1 percent. It has spent trillions on security and intelligence. According to Prof. John Muller, since 1960, the possibility of an American dying in a terrorist attack is the same as of dying in a car accident caused by a deer coming in front of the car (1/5,000,000 chance). So, what does “claiming a thousand year war” mean? Americans are looking for an enemy instead of looking for a friend. The expenses of the U.S. military alone each year are equal to that of the rest of the world (20 times higher per person). Weapon companies, which have soldiers all around the world, have taken advantage of the situation. After the end of the Cold War, how can the U.S., which lost its strongest enemy, the USSR, explain its military expenses? Osama has gone too!