Aljazeera.com created an interactive chart titled “September 11: Counting the costs to America” online: “$5 trillion, and counting: Osama bin Laden spoke often of a strategy of ‘economic warfare’ against the United States, a low-level war aimed at bankrupting the world’s economic superpower.
A decade after the 9/11 attacks, it’s hard to argue that bin Laden’s strategy was ineffective.
The attacks themselves, according to the September 11 commission, cost Al Qaeda between $400,000 and $500,000 to execute.
They have cost America, by our estimate, more than $5 trillion – a ‘return on investment’ of 10,000,000 to one.”
– Gregg Carlstrom, “Interactive: How much did 9/11 cost the US? The attacks, which cost perhaps $400,000 to execute, will cost the United States more than $5 trillion.,” Aljazeera.com, Sept. 1, 2011