coming up, the costs of combat in iraq, afghanistan and pakistan. and ten years after 9/11, we revisit some of the people we talked with in the aftermath of the attacks. >> have we healed? yes. healed with a hole.

major funding for "religion & ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter and the estate of james hinson. and the corporation for public broadcasting. >> welcome. i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us on this weekend of remembering and trying again to understand what happened on 9/11/01, and what the consequences have been. religious congregations around the country are holding special services for the victims and

their families. and, religious leaders are offering prayers for the nation. many interfaith events are also taking place. in washington, prominent leaders from several faith traditions spoke of the need for religious tolerance. >> the presence in america of people of all faiths and belief systems enrich our diverse country. the ideals that unite us are more powerful than the differences that divide us. meanwhile, there were complaints that no religious leaders had been invited to speak at the planned ground zero memorial service. a poll released this week shows that, ten years after 9/11, americans are deeply divided in their feelings about islam. the poll was conducted by the brookings institution and public religion research institute. according to the results, almost 9 out of 10 americans, 88%, agree that america was founded on the idea of religious freedom for everyone.

yet, nearly half, 47%, say they believe islam is at odds with american values. those surveyed were also asked about violence carried out in the name of religion. a large majority, 83%, said that when christians commit such acts they are not really christians. but when muslims do, only 48% of those surveyed said the perpetrators are not really muslims. in other news, the so-called congressional super committee charged with coming up with a plan to reduce the deficit by more than a trillion dollars convened its first meeting in washington. several religious groups have urged the members to spare federal programs that help the poor. in a letter to the bipartisan committee, the u.s. catholic bishops said a moral approach to deficit reduction protects the jobless, hungry and homeless. a majority of the committee must agree on a deficit reduction plan by the end of november or

automatic cuts go into effect. meanwhile, as texas battles some of the worst wildfires in the state's history, religious relief groups mobilized to help those forced to evacuate. more than 1,400 homes have been lost in the fire and 100,000 acres have been burned over. church volunteers prepared meals for first responders and delivered supplies to shelters. on the east coast, heavy rains caused additional flooding and widespread evacuations. relief groups already deployed to the areas recovering from hurricane irene say they are in urgent need of more supplies and workers. international aid organizations are appealing for more funds as the food crisis in east africa worsens. the united nations announced this week that another area in somalia is officially facing a famine. 750,000 are close to starving to

death and hundreds are reported to be dying every day. refugee camps are struggling to house the people seeking help. rlier this week the u.n. began relocating some to new settlements to ease the overcrowding. now we mark the 10th anniversary of september 11th with two special reports. first, the costs of war. every year since 9/11 the u.s. has been at war in iraq, in afghanistan, with spillover into parts of pakistan. we asked the department of defense what the cost of these wars has been. the answer, for the fighting so far more than a trillion dollars. but at brown university, a research group of professors from all over the country estimates the total costs, military and otherwise, will be up to four times as much. they count not only the wars so far but also all the likely additional long-term costs.

lucky severson reports. >> going into the iraq war, u.s. military officials described the overwhelming force they intended to employ as "shock and awe." now it seems that same phrase could be used to describe the overall cost of that war and the one in afghanistan and the u.s. engagement in neighboring pakistan. it's much greater than predicted by the government, according to a report compiled by the watson institute for international studies at brown university. it's called the eisenhower research project, codirected by professors catherine lutz and neta crawford. >> i've been looking at the history of war and its conduct for a long time, and what struck me about these three wars most startlingly was how much we

don't know about the costs. >> the reasonable estimate is approximately $4 trillion for the war, up to today and including some of the future cts that wee obligated to pay for veterans care. >> that estimate includes the cost of the fighting that hasn't ended yet, but it does not include as much as a trillion dollars just for the interest payments on the war debt through 2020. that's a unique aspect of these wars. >> every other war that the u.s. has fought historically has been paid for by revenue, either by raising taxes or selling war bonds. in this war, the united states has almost entirely financed it, paid for it by borrowing. >> what surprised me most was this idea that wars have such a long tail into the future of negative effects that we pay environmentally, we pay in human suffering, we pay in financially

decades into the future. >> my fellow americans, major combat operations in iraq have ended. in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. >> originally, the bush administration projected the iraq war would be short and cost approximately $60 billion, clearly off the mark, but historically not unusual. >> governments often try to sell wars to the public and they use, at best, a very, very conservative estimate that will seem the most attractive and reasonable to the public. there tends to be an assumption that force will work, and therefore the job will be done in a couple of weeks or a month. >> that doesn't usually happen. in fact, it hardly ever happens. you have to really destroy a country to get people to roll over, and in every instance, the duration of war is almost always underestimated.

>> to date, more than 6,000 u.s. troops have come home in coffins, although until recently images of the solemn event at dover air force base have been forbidden. less well known is the fact that more than 26,000 allied military and security forces, most of them iraqi or afghan, have also been killed. >> a lot of the information about the war is not available to the american public. for a variety of reasons, the idea that you want to have a sanitized version of the war available for purposes of morale, for the public at large, for the troops. >> hundreds of aid workers have been killed, others kidnapped. 2,300 hundred u.s. contractors have died. but what we rarely hear about are the numbers of civilian deaths, and they are considerably greater than military casualties. >> in iraq, it's been about 125,000 people killed, civilians

killed. in afghanistan, the conflict has killed directly about 12,000 to 14,000 civilians. >> the hostilities in pakistan have actually taken more lives than the war in afghanistan, about 35,000, including civilians and militants. there, the u.s. military relies increasingly on drone attacks. the cost of this operation is classified. >> these strikes have killed about 2,000 people. we don't know exactly how many, and we don't know exactly h many of those people were insurgent targets. now this is a secret war, but it's an open secret. >> another war statistic is the number of wounded. among u.s. servicemen alone that number is nearly 100,000, and the wounds are often severe. >> this war differs from previous wars in a number of ways, and so there are certain

kind of injuries and severity of injury that we did not see in previous wars. survival rates are higher because of battlefield medicine and other factors. >> the insurgents' use of ieds or improvised explosive devices has been a major cause of injuries. >> so we have a lot more injuries that are, again, whole body impact rather than just a single bullet kind of injuries, and these kinds of traumatic brain injuries that have such long-term negative effects and often interact with some of the other problems, the ptsd and other injuries that have this major effect on the person. >> it's the hidden costs or unquantifiable costs of war that keep popping up in the watson institute report, which was compiled by 20 academics from around the country-the cost, for instance, to our civil liberties. the report says there has been unprecedented surveillance of pconversations that have been allowed through the patriot act, which was enacted to fight terrorism at home.

>> it is common to wars in general that they have often expanded the power of the government beyond what they were, what those powers were in peacetime, and that those powers are often maintained past the nd of the conflict, and so in line with the idea that wars are never over when we think they're over, that's one way in which that statement's true. >> then there's the image of the u.s., which has suffered globally, first after the torture pictures from abu ghraib, then the reports of the secret prisons and the detention of hundreds of terror suspects at guantanamo, many of whom were released after several years. >> it's tarnished the image of the united states as a country of the rule of law. >> for the people of iraq and afghanistan, this has been a nightmare decade. >> the report says the psychological effects for the people of iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan have been

"massive"-- depression, post traumatic stress disorder, broken families, targeted victims and collateral damage of a counterinsurgency war. >> the number of refugees from these wars have been estimated by the un at 7.8 million persons in those three countries, iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan. and that's equivalent to the population of connecticut and kentucky being forced from their homes. >> the environmental harm is difficult to calculate but significant. damage from spilt fuel, spent munitions, toxic dust, increased rates of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, which is also showing up in returning troops. >> the report also takes into account what the wars have accomplished, the overthrow of

saddam hussein, the killing of osama bin laden, the diminished ability of the taliban, greater rights for women in afghanistan, the spread of democracy, although iraq and afghanistan are listed as two of the world's most corrupt countries. but like the costs, it will be impossible to measure the benefits until well into the future, and it's the future that concerns the authors of this report. >> the data is out there, but it's very difficult to access. in some cases it's not there at all. we need to know what those data are for past conflicts in order to try and project forward to other conflicts. that's how a democratic society should operate is with full information about what public policy decisions are being made and who's being asked to pay what. these have been costs that have also been born very unevenly, so the people who are paying the costs, military families, veterans, civilians in iraq, afghanistan and pakistan, those people deserve to have their story told. >> benjamin franklin is quoted as having said, "wars are not paid for in wartime. the bill comes later." the watson institute report says the bills for these wars will keep coming in for as long as 40 years later.

fo"religion and ethics newsweekly," this is lucky severson in washington. finally, over the last decade, we've done a number of interviews about 9/11's impact on the religious community and on people's individual spirituality. kim lawton revisited some of the people she talked with earlier. >> in new york's mid-hudson valley, aziz ahsan, his wife, and three kids are looking at some old photos. these family times are becoming increasingly rare, now that the two oldest children are in college. ahsan says he values these moments more than ever. >> 9/11 for me was an event that made my relationship with my family stronger, because now that every time i look at my family i am thankful i am alive. i can touch them, i can feel them, and so it has created a stronger bond.

>> ahsan, who is muslim, was at the world trade center on 9/11. he went to the post office there to buy a special new islamic-themed stamp. just after he left the plane hit, and he was struck by pieces of the crumbing tower. hours later, ahsan was able to make his way home covered in debris, with serious eye injuries. >> i remember walking over to him and wanting to hug him, and he said, "no, don't. wait. don't get all this stuff on you." but i just hugged him anyway because i just had to. >> ahsan put his debris-covered clothes in a bag. he says he hasn't opened it again since he showed them to me nine years ago. he keeps the bag in his garage and hopes to donate the clothes to a 9/11 museum. shahzad was 13 when the attacks occurred. he told me he felt a backlash from people who blamed all muslims. >> i couldn't understand why people would hate muslims when they were victims of the attack as well. >> ahsan decided he and his family should reach out to their community and show a different view of islam. he got involved in local causes, was appointed to the zoning board of appeals, and

successfully ran for president of the school board. >> when people like myself and others who stood up and made muslim a household name or became part of the news stories on a regular basis, it made it that much easier for people to realize that muslims are in our community. >> he and his family created and now sell a muslim identity symbol. it can be placed in a window or on a desk and in its large form, a public park. >> i just want to make people aware that we are proud to be americans, and we're proud to be muslim. >> the ahsans also got involved with interfaith projects. shahzad and several muslim friends worked with jewish teens on a "salaam-shalom" video project to create awareness about anti-religious bigotry and bullying. >> when i was younger my father was really big on trying to get me to understand that this is important. even what seems like small events are important, because you might be the first muslim friend someone's ever had. >> shahzad is now studying political science at the university of chicago and hopes

to find positive ways of portraying american muslims. his father says that's the lesson they all learned from 9/11. >> those opportunities became much more available after 9/11, and for people like me who participated, who got involved, reached out, the community reached back. it's important for the rest of the muim american community to get more involved. don't be shy. don't be afraid. >> in western pennsylvania, the small town of shanksville looks much the same as it did ten years ago before passenger resistance brought down hijacked flight 93. but this town was indelibly altered on that day. >> the spiritual lesson i think that we probably learned, really, was that we are one, that as a people we are one, that shanksville people are not different than new york people, aren't different than washington, d.c. people, that we're all the same people. >> lutheran pastor robert way had arrived in shanksville just

days before 9/11. it was his first church assignment. >> i honestly do not believe that the people of this area would have welcomed me as openly as they have already had it not been for the flight. i think it has really framed what my ministry has been but also has opened not only myself to them, but their lives to me. >> he says the crash continues to have a spiritual impact for him. >> probably emboldened more in my spirit, just to understand that evil is part of our world. evil can touch even those of us who are in rural western pennsylvania. >> ten years after 9/11, way has just arrived at a new assignment at st. john lutheran church in clearfield, about 70 miles away. but he remains heavily involved in shanksville. he's an ambassador for the flight 93 national memorial and volunteers at the park every week, retelling the story of what happened there, both the

tragedy and the heroism. >> i believe the site is really a site of social engagement and calling people into that engagement once again. we have often used the term that the people aboard the plane really stepped up to the plate, and now it's our turn to step up to the plate, and the people of shanksville have done that. >> at the site of ground zero in new york, greek orthodox parishioners are frustrated that plans to rebuild st. nicholas church have been locked in stalemate. >> they were re bore the twin towers, were here before the stock exchange was here, and they deserve the right to be rebuilt. the people need a place to worship. >> st. nicholas greek orthodox church was the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11. when the towers fell, the tiny church never stood a chance. >> the debris from the south tower literally pancaked our church. you know, it was an unbelievable amount of debris on it. >> only a few remnants were dug

out of the rubble, two torn icons, a charred bible, and some liturgical items, including a twisted candelabra. but all rebuilding at ground zero is being overseen by the port authority of new york and new jersey. greek orthodox officials and the port authority had a preliminary agreement to rebuild the church at a different location nearby, but negotiations broke down. the church accused the port authority of reneging, and the port authority accused the church of making too many demands. the greek orthodox archdiocese filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year, and because of it neither church officials nor the port authority are commenting. meanwhile, orthodox parishioners are trying to ramp up pressure for a resolution. they say a rebuilt st. nicholas would provide spiritual support for people of all faiths. >> this is now sacred ground, and whatever your denomination is you have to respect the fact that many lives were lost. so the role of the church and that relationship with god and

oneself plays an even more important role for the people that are going to be coming here. st. nicholas could fill that role for these people. >> at congregation mount sinai in brooklyn heights, rabbi joseph potasnik says the lingering spiritual impact of 9/11 is profound. he was and still is a chaplain for the new york fire department and says he's been especially inspired by the families of the 343 fire fighters who died on 9/11. >> so this is a special reminder of many, many special people who are in our midst and who were in our midst. >> potasnik has experienced 9/11's aftermath on several fronts, as a fdny chaplain, executive vice-president of the new york board of rabbis, and spiritual leader of a synagogue just across the river from ground zero. the twin towers loomed large for his congregation, such as during high holiday services, when they

would walk down to the water for the traditional tashlikh ritual. eight years ago, potasnik told us his people had been deeply scarred. >> we can't often heal a scar, but you can cover it, and what we try to do, at least in the spiritual world, is teach people how to cover some of those scars so they can continue to live, and life still has meaning and purpose. >> i asked him if some healing has now occurred. >> the healing has taken place because we're inspired by those who have lost so much and yet love so much and want to live so much. i meet families all the time that have a hole in their hearts, and yet they continue to bring comfort to others. have we healed? yes. healed with a hole. it's never a complete healing, but at least there's a willingness to write a new chapter of life. >> postasnik has seen some new interreligious tensions, such as the controversy over plans to

build an islamic center near ground zero. but he says 9/11 has also opened the door for more interfaith cooperation. >> those who destroyed those buildings, they wanted to separate us. they don't want to see muslims, jews, and christians and all the other groupings standing with one another. so the best message that we can convey to those that hate us is, "you will not prevent us from being one family." >> the 9/11 tenth anniversary, he says, is stirring up lots of memories and emotions. this photo was taken when potasnik visited a makeshift shrine for his fellow fire department chaplain, father mychal judge, who died with other first responders on 9/11. >> the day before 9/11 in the year 2001, i was together with father mychal judge. we stood at a rededication of a fire house. he said in life you have to learn to hold on to memory, hold on to the moment, and hold on to one another. that's what he said the day before he lost his life. isn't that what we're doing on

this anniversary? isn't this what we are doing every day? >> and if we're not, he says we should be. i'm kim lawton reporting. that's our program for now. i'm bob abernethy. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, find us on youtube, and watch us anytime, anywhere on smart phones and iphones. there's also much more on our web site about 9/11, including an archive of a decade's worth of our stories and more of our interviews with religious leaders, scholars, and theologians. you can comment on all of our stories and share them. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, the legendary opera singer denyce graves during the 9/11 memorial service at washington's national cathedral ten years ago.

major funding for "religion & ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of

america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. the estate of william j. carter. the jane hinson foundation, and the corporation for public broadcasting.