Government policies are routinely subjected to rigorous cost analyses. Yet one of today's most controversial and expensive policies - the ongoing war in Iraq - has not been. The $212 billion allocated by the U.S. Treasury has been widely reported. But the real, direct economic costs include more...

Scott Wallsten of the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the true economic costs of the war in Iraq could reach one trillion dollars in the long run, five to ten times the original estimates of President Bush's advisor Lawrence Lindsey.