Lancet study revisted by critics


Independent sources can't verify the 650,000 dead claim
Do you remember the Lancet study of 650,000 "deaths" released in time to influence the American elections?

I do.

It seems that independent sources can't verify the numbers.

Body counts in conflict zones are assumed to be ballpark – hospitals, record offices and mortuaries rarely operate smoothly in war – but this was ten times any other estimate. Iraq Body Count, an antiwar web-based charity that monitors news sources, put the civilian death toll for the same period at just under 50,000, broadly similar to that estimated by the United Nations Development Agency.

The implication of the Lancet study, which involved Iraqi doctors knocking on doors and asking residents about recent deaths in the household, was that Iraqis were being killed on an horrific scale. The controversy has deepened rather than evaporated. Several academics have tried to find out how the Lancet study was conducted; none regards their queries as having been addressed satisfactorily. Researchers contacted by The Times talk of unreturned e-mails or phone calls, or of being sent information that raises fresh doubts.

Iraq Body Count says there is “considerable cause for scepticism” and has complained that its figures had been misleadingly cited in the The Lancet as supporting evidence.

At a guess, I would say the numbers were fudged.

Do you suppose that will make front page headlines like the original study did?

As I said before, this has nothing to do with if American forces should be in Iraq.

It's a matter of lying, even if you believe it's for the right cause. If someone has to lie to prove their point, then their point isn't worth anything. Nor is their honor.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Tue - March 6, 2007 at 06:04 AM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library


Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved