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So what is the actual cost of this little war we've gotten ourselves into in Iraq? Remember when the administration said that it wouldn't cost more than $1.7 Billion (yes, they really did say this! You can read the transcript - here - from Nightline between Ted Koppel and Andrew Natsios - administrator of the Agency for International Development, where Natsios remarks, "The American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.")?

Well, here's another take on how much this disaster is going to cost us: $1.9 TRILLION! Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia and Linda Bilmes at Harvard have a new paper out detailing where these costs will (and are) coming from.

Since we've already spent $250 billion, that number can expect to double, at least, if we stay as long as Rumsfeld is envisioning this. Also, the authors assume that we'll be in Iraq at least until 2010, which will bring the cost of taking care of veterens to higher than $100 billion. And of course there's the cost of higher petroleum prices.

It's a fascinating paper, written by two of the country's leading economists, and erring on the conservative side. Professor Stiglitz was quoted as saying, "We did not have to fight this war, and we did not have to go to war when we did. We could have waited until we had more safe body armor, and we chose not to wait."

When will our leaders be held accountable? Ironically, Andrew Natsios has acheived some admirable accomplishments within this administration, most notably in The Sudan. His quote of $1.7 billion must represent the lowest part of his career with the government.

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