[Vision2020] Study Sees 'Excess' Iraqi Deaths

[debismith at moscow.com]

Pat,
I beg your pardon? First of all, since when did the Shrub become 
infallable based on being the current resident of the White House? 

Secondly, you cannot seriously believe your president hasn't made 
decisions based on stupidity---WMD in Iraq comes to mind.

 Thirdly, if you can't take a critical thinking approach to the issue, 
you lose credibility. I didn't see you as credible the last time your 
less than informed, Rush Limbaughesque opinions made their way to the V, 
and I see no reason to change that view.

Check out a news source other than those that support your extremely 
limited viewpoint then let's have a chat.
Debi R-S

 > Check out the methodology!! The president of the United States cannot 
make
> decisions based on stupidities.
> 
> 
> 
> If we do discover a complete theory..of everything...we shall all,
> philosophers, scientists and just ordinary people,
> be able to take part in the discussion of why it is that we and the 
universe
> exist if we find the answer to that,
> it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason...for then we would 
know
> the mind of God.
> Stephen Hawking
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:56 AM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Study Sees 'Excess' Iraqi Deaths
> 
> 
> >From today's (October 11, 2006) Spokesman Review -
> 
> To put this article into perspective:  Losing 600,000 people in a 
country of
> 30 million people is comparable to losing 18 million people here in the
> United States.
> 
> Again I ask:  Why are we still there?
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Study sees 'excess' Iraqi deaths
> Team estimates 655,000 as result of 2003 invasion
> 
> David Brown
> Washington Post
> October 11, 2006
> 
> WASHINGTON - A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that
> 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in
> March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
> 
> The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random 
sampling of
> households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by 
other
> groups, including Iraq's government.
> 
> It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that
> President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times 
the
> estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based 
Iraq
> Body Count research group.
> 
> The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the
> invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a
> worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media 
and
> civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's
> mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the 
war.
> 
> Of the total 655,000 estimated "excess deaths," 601,000 resulted from
> violence and the rest from disease and other causes, according to the 
study.
> This is about 500 unexpected violent deaths per day throughout the 
country.
> 
> The survey was done by Iraqi physicians and overseen by epidemiologists 
at
> Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. The 
findings
> are being published online today by the British medical journal the 
Lancet.
> 
> The same group in 2004 published an estimate of roughly 100,000 deaths 
in
> the first 18 months after the invasion. That figure was much higher than
> expected and was controversial. The new study estimates that about 
500,000
> more Iraqis, both civilian and military, have died since then - a 
finding
> likely to be equally controversial.
> 
> Both this and the earlier study are the only ones to estimate mortality 
in
> Iraq using scientific methods. The technique, called "cluster 
sampling," is
> used to estimate mortality in famines and after natural disasters.
> 
> While acknowledging that the estimate is large, the researchers believe 
it
> is sound for numerous reasons. The recent survey got the same estimate 
for
> immediate post-invasion deaths as the early survey, which gives the
> researchers confidence in the methods. The great majority of deaths were
> also substantiated by death certificates.
> 
> "We're very confident with the results," said Gilbert Burnham, a Johns
> Hopkins physician and epidemiologist.
> 
> A Defense Department spokesman did not comment directly on the estimate.
> 
> "The Department of Defense always regrets the loss of any innocent life 
in
> Iraq or anywhere else," said Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. "The coalition 
takes
> enormous precautions to prevent civilian deaths and injuries."
> 
> Ronald Waldman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University who worked at 
the
> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for many years, called the 
survey
> method "tried and true," and added that "this is the best estimate of
> mortality we have."
> 
> This viewed was echoed by Sarah Leah Whitson, an official of Human 
Rights
> Watch in New York, who said, "We have no reason to question the 
findings or
> the accuracy" of the survey.
> 
> The survey was conducted between May 20 and July 10 by eight Iraqi
> physicians organized through Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. They
> visited 1,849 randomly selected households that had an average of seven
> members each. One person in each household was asked about deaths in 
the 14
> months before the invasion and in the period after.
> 
> The interviewers asked for death certificates 87 percent of the time; 
when
> they did, more than 90 percent of households produced certificates.
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Vandalville, Idaho
> 
> ***************************************************
> 
> "Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense 
of
> uncertainty and fear -- with such a realization that the future is 
obscure
> and that survival is not assured."
> 
> - Edward R. Murrow
> 
> ***************************************************
> 
> 
> 
> 
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