The Three Trillion Dollar War

The true cost of the Iraq War is $3 trillion—and counting—rather than the $50 billion projected by the White House.

The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (W. W. Norton), by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes, casts a spotlight on expense items that have been hidden from the U.S. taxpayer, including not only big-ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans—for the rest of their lives. Shifting to a global focus, the authors investigate the cost in lives and economic damage within Iraq and the region. Finally, the authors measure what the U.S. taxpayer’s money would have produced if instead it had been invested in the further growth of the U.S. economy.

The Open Society Institute hosts a discussion with Joseph E. Stiglitz, with a special introduction by OSI chair George Soros.

Refreshments will be served.