The Most Expesive Hard-On In History: Bush's War

.

Where now those heady days of swagger and hubris?

The Iraq war has contributed to the US economic slowdown and is impeding an economic recovery, Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says.

Meanwhile, the US Government is severely underestimating the cost of the war, Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes write in their book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, due to be published in the US this week.

The nearly five-year-old war, once billed as virtually paying for itself through increased Iraqi oil exports, has cost the US Treasury US$845 billion ($1064 billion) directly.

"It used to be thought that wars were good for the economy. No economist really believes that anymore," Stiglitz said.more

Arianna gives us her opinion on the same book, same war and same three trillion dollars.