President Bush asked for another $46 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, congress has given $455 billion for the war in Iraq.

These numbers got me thinking about when this war got started. I remember doing a cartoon (see below) estimating the war could cost as much as $200 billion. At the time, many wrote to tell me that that figure was ridiculously overblown. They told me that with the oil revenue that the war and reconstruction could pay for itself. When we look at my cartoon now, the number I used is ridiculous, but not because it's overblown.

Eric Devericks/The Seattle Times