Lancet Report: '655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion'

[IndianaGreen]

We posted and discussed in DU the two John Hopkins cluster surveys of Iraqi casualties which were publish by The Lancet Medical Journal in the UK:

'655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion'

Sarah Boseley, health editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 11 October 2006 16.14 BST

The death toll among Iraqis as a result of the US-led invasion has now reached an estimated 655,000, a study in the Lancet medical journal reports today.
The figure for the number of deaths attributable to the conflict - which amounts to around 2.5% of the population - is at odds with figures cited by the US and UK governments and will cause a storm, but the Lancet says the work, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, has been examined and validated by four separate independent experts who all urged publication.

In October 2004, the same researchers published a study estimating that 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the war since the beginning of the March 2003 invasion, a figure that was hugely controversial. Their new study, they say, reaffirms the accuracy of their survey of two years ago and moves it on.

"Although such death rates might be common in times of war, the combination of a long duration and tens of millions of people affected has made this the deadliest international conflict of the 21st century and should be of grave concern to everyone," write the authors, Gilbert Burnham and colleagues.

"At the conclusion of our 2004 study we urged that an independent body assess the excess mortality that we saw in Iraq. This has not happened. We continue to believe that an independent international body to monitor compliance with the Geneva conventions and other humanitarian standards in conflict is urgently needed. With reliable data, those voices that speak out for civilians trapped in conflict might be able to lessen the tragic human cost of future wars."

The epidemiological research was carried out on the ground by teams of doctors moving from house to house, questioning families and examining death certificates. Between May and July this year, they visited 1,849 households in 47 separated clusters across the length and breadth of Iraq. The doctors asked about deaths among members of the household in a period before the invasion, from January 2002 to March 2003, and about deaths since. In 92% of cases, they were shown death certificates confirming the cause.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/11/iraq.iraq

FULL TEXT: New Lancet Report, Iraq 2003-2006

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78999

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. sounds right

[prostomulgus]

2. Sounds way low.

In any case, Bush, Cheney, et al. should be tried for 655,000 counts of murder.

The US should pay reparations when this terrible war is over.

[stray cat]

3. Its almost 3x more deaths than from the flu in the US over the same length of time

Seriously, the deaths are horrible and tragic but it sometimes seems many at DU laugh at influenza or any who are concerned about it eventhough it or complications kills almost 40,000 in the US alone each year.

[ej510]

4. Sickening!