UK aides backed study that placed Iraq toll at more than 600,000

"British government officials backed the methodology used by researchers who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis had been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the BBC reported Monday.

"The government publicly rejected the findings, published in The Lancet medical journal in October. But the BBC said documents obtained under freedom of information legislation showed that advisers concluded that the study had used sound methods.

"The Lancet study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, estimated that 655,000 more Iraqis had died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. The study estimated that 601,027 of those deaths occurred as a result of violence.

"The researchers, reflecting the inherent uncertainties in such extrapolations, said they were 95 percent certain that the real number lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636 deaths.

"The conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, was disputed by some experts, and rejected by the U.S. and British governments."
AP (This link was correct at time of posting, but several hours later the story on that page was changed.)

Iraqi deaths survey 'was robust'

Tagged: uk, usa, iraq, war+on+terror, war, disinfo, disinformation