SERIOUS QUESTION: Is one life ever more valuable than another?

I understand how patriotism and nationalism blind people to the casualties of conflict and war, but I honestly believe that every life is equally rich in potential and worth. In the U.S. it seems we are more willing to dismiss the killing of nearly anyone, children and innocents included as long as they are in a far away land. I suppose what I want to know is why Americans specifically, value the lives of themselves and their countrymen significantly more than those of other nationalities? My evidence for this is the death toll for 9/11 approx. 3,000 mostly American victims, in response we launched a decade of "conflicts" and a "war on terror which has to date led to the deaths of 5,885 U.S military. This brings the U.S death toll to approx. 8,885 a tragic and unnecessary number to be sure. Now, let's take a look at the human cost to Iraq and Afghanistan and compare. approx. 30.000 Iraqi troops have lost their lives during the "war on terror" 864,531 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives to the same fate. This means that around 894,531 Iraqis have been killed "for our freedom" Afghanistan to date has sustained around 8,813 civilian deaths and continues to grow. To clarify here U.S casualties including 9/11:8,885 < Iraq/Afghanistan casualties :903,344 There is no way to gentrify these numbers with justice, or logic, or anything but the human rights violation it is so how can we casually dismiss nearly a million dead humans that had little or nothing to do with a single attack on American soil.