On the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic US decision to launch an unprovoked and unjustified war against Iraq, it is worth sparing a few moments to ponder the opportunity costs of roads taken and roads not taken. In the run-up to the invasion, we were told that the cost of the US invasion would be in the neighborhood of $200 billion, but not to worry, the grateful Iraqi people would pay for it. Three trillion dollars and too much suffering later we should take such improbable claims with a large lump of salt. With a wiser investment of $3 trillion over the ensuing two decades we could have been well on the way to addressing the unavoidable challenges of climate change and had resources to address a plethora of domestic priorities as well.
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