Osama’s dead!

And all it cost was three trillion dollars, the lives of six thousand US servicemen and about a million Afghanis and Iraqis.

In a way, our War on Terror’s kinda been like a complete reversion of the States’ involvement in World War II. Consider:

• The War on Terror cost more than WWII and lasted longer, except no palpable sacrifice was demanded.
• WWII was fought with clear goals in mind and a clear end. The War on Terror was fought with less clear-cut results – if any results at all.
• In WWII, we started in a depression and ended as the richest nation on earth. The War of Terror started with us as the richest nation on earth and ended – if you can say it’s ending – in a depression.
• The US started WWII as isolationist and ended it as an internationalist, and now at the tail end of the War on Terror there’s a severe backlash against interventionism.
• The US entered WWII with many and strong allies. The US entered the War on Terror with few and reluctant allies.
• WWII had a relatively clean and painless post-war occupation. The occupation forces during the War on Terror arguably saw more war than during the war.

So uh, what exactly have we accomplished?