9/11 + 5

Five years ago, 19 men sparked a global war. They were far from the first to commit acts of terrorism. But the devastation they wrought led U.S. President George W. Bush to declare a war "unlike any other we have ever seen," not simply against al Qaeda, but against every organization capable of terror. Today, the world faces increased terrorism on nearly every front. Attacks and fatalities are on the rise not just in the Middle East, but around the world -- everywhere, it seems, but where the war was first declared. The United States may be footing many of the costs for the war on terror, but the rest of the world is paying with their lives.

Kim Cragin and Andrew Curiel study terrorism and political violence at the RAND Corp.

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