War on Terror: More Terrorism Deaths Since 9-11

Since 9/11, the US government led war on terror has brought upon more fatalities and not less. This in spite of all the legal and bureaucratic inconveniences imposed on travel, finance and etc.

From the Economist, (bold emphasis mine)

THE attacks of September 11th 2001 killed 2,996 people. Despite the subsequent declaration of a war on terror, over the past ten years thousands more have been killed by terrorists of all hues. The chart below tracks the number of terrorist-related fatalities worldwide. The data is from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, which defines terrorism as “the use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal”.

This is just another brazen example of government failure

Congressman and US Presidential aspirant Ron Paul is right, we should stop terrorism through empathy and free trade. (bold highlights mine)

Sadly, one thing that has entirely escaped modern American foreign policy is empathy. Without much humility or regard for human life, our foreign policy has been reduced to alternately bribing and bombing other nations, all with the stated goal of "promoting democracy." But if a country democratically elects a leader who is not sufficiently pro-American, our government will refuse to recognize them, will impose sanctions on them, and will possibly even support covert efforts to remove them. Democracy is obviously not what we are interested in. It is more likely that our government is interested in imposing its will on other governments. This policy of endless intervention in the affairs of others is very damaging to American liberty and security.

If we were really interested in democracy, peace, prosperity, and safety, we would pursue more free trade with other countries. Free and abundant trade is much more conducive to peace because it is generally bad business to kill your customers. When one’s livelihood is on the line, and the business agreements are mutually beneficial, it is in everyone’s best interests to maintain cooperative and friendly relations and not kill each other. But instead, to force other countries to bend to our will, we impose trade barriers and sanctions. If our government really wanted to promote freedom, Americans would be free to travel and trade with whoever they wished. And if we would simply look at our own policies around the world through the eyes of others, we would understand how these actions make us more targeted and therefore less safe from terrorism. The only answer is get back to free trade with all and entangling alliances with none. It is our bombs and sanctions and condescending aid packages that isolate us.