Iraq War Watch: Lancet Study – 655,000 Dead Iraqis?

AP: Bush dismisses Iraq death toll study

President Bush says he doesn’t believe it. Some experts have a problem with it. But several others say it seems sound. Such was the varied reception for a controversial new study that estimated the Iraq war has led to the deaths of nearly 655,000 Iraqis as of July.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad derived that estimate from a door-to-door survey, conducted by doctors, of 1,849 households in Iraq. Taking the number of deaths reported by household residents, they extrapolated to a nationwide figure.

The researchers, reflecting the inherent uncertainties in such extrapolations, said they were 95 percent certain that the real number lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636 deaths.

Even the smaller figure is almost eight times the estimate some others have derived.

Research methods gone MAD.

Allah has more.

Tony Blair and John Howard say it’s nonsense. Jan Egeland, the UN’s Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, is “surprised” by the findings. But the nightly news shows can’t get enough.

Have at it, number-crunchers. Note that Baghdad appears to be relatively safe compared to other parts of the country.

Flap’s take: Lancet Study is FOS.

Iraq the Model has Responding to the Lancet lies…

Technorati Tags: Lancet, IraqWar, GeorgeBush, JohnHoward, TonyBlair