One Hundred Thousand Dead
100,000 Iraqi civilians dead as a result of the invasion according to Johns Hopkins' first attempt at a scientific estimate of civilian casualties. The number seems high; but if accurate, it's troubling simply because the issue of civilian casualties has been largely ignored. Unfortunately, I think the facts of the story are going to be obscured by the timing of its release:
Editors of the journal decided not to wait for The Lancet's normal publication date next week, but instead to place the research online Friday, apparently so it could circulate before the U.S. presidential election.I wonder what the Lancet realistically aims to achieve, as I cannot see this announcement having any effect on U.S. voters. I only hope that the resulting negative effect on the credibility of the journal (a British medical journal) doesn't unfairly alter the assessment of the underlying data (which obviously needs to be tested) and the conclusions, if any, to be drawn from that data.
<< Home