This is a good start to a dialog about the cost of the post 9/11 response and the war against terror. Professor Linda Bilmes from Harvard University together with Professor Stiglitz at Columbia University wrote a book in 2008 about the cost of the war against terror concluding that it was costing around $3 trillion. In this interview Professor Bilmes suggests the number is really something between $4 and $6 trillion. She suggests that this expenditure has been detrimental to the US economy in large part because it was funded using the credit of the uS rather than using real money. There is a need to do a TVM value analysis to compare to these conclusions.

What are the economic implications of the 9/11 attacks and the battle against terrorism?

Counting the Cost takes a special look this week at the financial cost of the post-9/11 decade. Did the US decision to go to war come at the expense of jobs at home?

The sharp shock to the markets after the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, when Wall Street was actually closed, are easily remembered. But it is the economic picture in the 10 years following the attacks which has changed significantly as a result.

Was the Iraq invasion, 17 months after the Afghanistan invasion, financially justifiable? Was the full cost of the war forecasted? Did the US government know how much money the Iraq war would require?

Turning to Libya, this episode looks at uncovered documents which implicate China in an arms deal during Muammar Gaddafi's last months in power, claims Beijing denies.

We also look at Germany to see how the country's top court has given the parliament a greater say over Eurozone bailouts. Will this hamper Berlin's ability to act swiftly to counter the debt crisis?

Counting the Cost can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 2230; Saturday: 0930; Sunday: 0330; Monday: 1630.

Source: Al Jazeera