Helllo. I was reading an article from New York Times, and run into a phrase "out of all proportion". I tried to figure out what this phrase mean using my dictionary, but had no luck. Could anyone tell me how I should interpret this phrase? The sentence in which the phrase was used is as follows: Because the opportunity cost this war (the war in Iraq)　is exacting on our country and its ability to focus on anything else is out of all proportion to what might still be achieved in Iarq by our staying, with too few troops and too few friends.

thanks in advance.

p.s. I would appreciate it if you could explain what the phrase mean in the context of the sentence.

Vocab

Hi,

Because the opportunity cost this war (the war in Iraq)　is exacting on our country and its ability to focus on anything else is out of all proportion to what might still be achieved in Iarq by our staying, with too few troops and too few friends.

I don't wnat to add to the explanation of the phrase in bold, but here's a general comment on the whole of the above statement.

Have you quoted this sentence correctly? It seems to me to be incomplete. It's just one long subordinate clause that starts with 'because'. Where is the main clause? Without that, it's hard to identify the overall meaning. Because this  and because this is out of all proportion to this , .... then what? eg We must withdraw our troops?

What's an 'opportunity cost'?

Best wishes, Clive