How Many Lives Does it Take to Equal the Nearly 3,000 Lost on 9-11-01?

I think that's a legitimate question on the eve of the third anniversary of 9-11, when we have an estimated 15,000-25,000 or more Iraqi civilians dead, an untold number of Afghans dead, not to mention thousands perhaps who became unwitting victims to the so-called War on Terror throughout the world as a result of our actions and initiatives in the past three years.

When do we stop seeking blood in recompense? Or is justice an archaic concept now in a pious environment of "an eye for an eye" where a foreign eye apparently doesn't carry the same effective weight as an American eye?

For the record, "an eye for an eye" is NOT justice. It's vengeance. Big-o difference. I don't see that killing anywhere between 15,000 and 50,000 or more innocent civilian people in other countries either makes up for our loss on 9-11 or does anything more than create more tragedy and injustice.

And while we're asking questions, how many failed aggressions like Iraq and Afghanistan will we commit in the name of 9-11? Iran's name keeps coming up lately. I suspect that's next on the neocon hit parade, and the ultra-right conservatives are aching to rid the Middle East of Palestinians to help fulfill Biblical prophecy where Jews reign supreme and the rapture occurs. That Jews would have to convert to fundamentalist Christianity to be saved and resurrected is a pesky detail.