Both the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and of the U.S. national security budget are far more than what you have been told by the Defense Department, the White House, the press, and most Washington D.C. think tanks. The total costs to the U.S. economy of the wars is now estimated at $3 trillion. The Bush Administration's budget request to fund its national security programs is $847 billion, and climbing - an amount far above the 4 percent of GDP that the Pentagon's budget pumpers are lobbying for. Two briefings presented to the press on Wednesday, Feb. 13 by Harvard professor Linda Bilmes and Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler tally up the unsettling numbers.

For Harvard professor Linda Bilmes' briefing "The Costs of the Iraqi Conflict: 2008 update" please click here.

For Straus Military Reform Project Director Winslow Wheeler's briefing "What the Heck Is Going On?: A Macro View of the 2009 'Defense' Budget" please click here.