not to mention the number of lives that have been destroyed

The cost of bin Laden: $3 trillion over 15 years

The most expensive public enemy in American history died Sunday from two bullets.

As we mark Osama bin Laden's death, what's striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we've gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.

What do we have to show for that tab? Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt, which threatens to hobble the economy unless lawmakers compromise on an unprecedented deficit-reduction deal.

---

I've said for years and years that bin Laden succeeded beyond his wildest dreams due to bush's idiotic responses to the attacks. There is no way that bin Laden could have imagined that he could nearly destroy everything that America stands for by one coordinated attack. It will assuredly take us decades to recover - as long as the repugs let us.