Michael O'Connor Clarke found this old snippet of a conversation with David Weinberger where we were chatting about how it would have been cheaper for the US to buy Iraq rather then fight a war to conquer it. And this was almost 4 years ago, when the forecasted total cost of the operation was $75B. Now it's above $350B.

In his speech at Le Web 3, Mr. Shimon Peres said that the best way to avoid any conflict with Iran is investing in that country: they desperately need investments to fight huge unemployement rates, and helping people living a decent life is the strongest weapon against terrorism.

Imagine taking whatever budget the Pentagon might have for the next war and figure out how to finance new businesses in Iran or Syria or Afghanistan instead. It sounds naive, doesn't it? But does spending 350 billion dollars not to gain control of Iraq sound smart?