Dem. Now today: Author defends study estimate on Iraqi casualties

[babylonsister]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/145222

Thursday, October 12th, 2006
Co-Author of Medical Study Estimating 650,000 Iraqi Deaths Defends Research in the Face of White House Dismissal

The White House is dismissing the findings of a medical study that says 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion. The study was conducted by American and Iraqi researchers and published in the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet. We’re joined by the report’s co-author, epidemiologist Les Roberts. More than 650,000 people have died in Iraq since the U.S. led invasion of the country began in March of 2003. This is according to a new study published in the scientific journal, The Lancet. The study was conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. Researchers based their findings on interviews with a random sampling of households taken in clusters across Iraq. The study is an update to a prior one compiled by many of the same researchers. That study estimated that around 100,000 Iraqis died in the first 18 months after the invasion.

Les Roberts joins us now from Syracuse, New York -- He is one of the main researchers of the study. He was with Johns Hopkins when he co-authored the study but has just taken a post at Columbia University.

* Les Roberts. Co-author of the study on civilian mortality in Iraq since the invasion. He was with Johns Hopkins when he co-authored the study but has just taken a post at Columbia University.

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1. A Kick for Democracy Now!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. He was on WJ this morning too

did a great job with the freeper calls.

Kick!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. K&R

:kick:

[Double T]

4. bushco doesn't want these hitleresque numbers of dead.........

associated with his foul and corrupt regime. Numbers seem to be plausible. Another question: How many Iraqis have been maimed or seriously injured????

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. here's a better question:

How many US troops have been maimed?
How many poorly-trained - in URBAN WARFARE - ex-National Guard weekend warriors are suffering from PTSD as they start their FOURTH CONSECUTIVE TOUR OF DUTY in a place where you never know who the enemy is or where he will shoot from next? How does a kid in uniform feel, after he accidently kills a mother and child?

How many more U.S. FEMALE combatants will be RAPED in Iraq, as the Army lowers its standards for enlistment, yet again? Will we ever hear of ALL these rapes?

How will a hideously under-funded VA be able to treat all the PTSD and head injuries of our poorly equiped military, if they ever make it home?

[Double T]

7. FORGET THE TRUTH, MILITARY HEALTH CARE OR ANYTHING........

from the masters of corruption that have no souls. This is ANOTHER HUGE reason bushco and his henchmen must go, so that the DEMS can restore adequate funding for OUR TROOPS and their needs.

[fed-up]

8. link to testimony regarding health care needs of returning vets

*'s murderous fiasco needs to be renamed "War on Life and Limb"

http://www.veteransforamerica.org/page/weblog/subpage/display_blog/BID/32F54FCC-123F-747A-1B00C96FB0E4038F

On October 4, I testified on behalf of Veterans for America about the needs of returning Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans before an Institute of Medicine (IOM) hearing in San Antonio, Texas. The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC) asked the IOM to advise them on what to do about presumptive service connection for war-related medical problems. What could have been a dry academic meeting offered some interesting surprises.

The IOM contacted me one week before the hearing asking if I could fly to San Antonio, Texas and speak about the concerns of new war veterans.

Before I describe the IOM/VDBC hearing, here is a bit of background. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses “presumptives” as a way to expedite the paperwork process so that war veterans get disability payments and healthcare faster. For example, due to the massive and widespread use of poisonous Agent Orange, a Vietnam War veteran with prostate cancer need only show VA that he or she served in Vietnam and has prostate cancer in order to be treated by a VA doctor and to collect disability payments.


...snip

go here for text of testimony

http://www.veteransforamerica.org/ArticleID/8416

Veterans for America Testimony for the Institute of Medicine
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Paul Sullivan

Oct 10, 2006


On October 4, Paul Sullivan of Veterans for America testified about the needs of returning Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans before an Institute of Medicine (IOM) hearing in San Antonio, Texas. The Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC) asked the IOM to advise them on what to do about presumptive service connection for war-related medical problems.

Click to read Paul's written testimony (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

Click to read Paul's report on the hearing in the VFA weblog.


What's your take? Comment here (No comments yet).

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6. Interview soon to be broadcast on LinkTV /nt