Elaborate cost-benefit analyses of major projects have been standard practice in the defense department and elsewhere in government for almost a half-century. The Iraq war was an immense “project,” yet it now appears that the analysis of its benefits was greatly flawed and that of its costs virtually absent.
但是，布什政府似乎无法考虑这些因素。将近半个世纪以来，对大项目进行细致的成本效益分析已经成为国防部以及政府其他部门的例行做法。伊拉克战争是一个巨大的“项目工程”，但是，现在看起来对其效益的分析存在巨大的缺陷，而对其成本则基本上没有分析。