Lies, Death, and Statistics
December 13th, 2005 by JoshTo follow up on the Matt’s post, public health experts from the US and Iraq said last year (this CNN article is over a year old) that approximately 100,000 Iraqi civilians had died at that point in the war. In a paper in the Lancet medical journal, researchs from Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and the Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad compared the death rate in 1000 Iraqi households before and after the war began and concluded, using scientifically proven statistical analysis techniques that the death rate was much higher than previously determined. Via Eternal Hope and Martini Republic:
Most mainstream media have omitted in reporting the news that over a year ago, public health experts put the number at 100,000.
The original Lancet study is online—registration is required to access. The radio show This American Life also did a segment earlier in the year on the credibility of the Lancet study, and found it to be credible. Link to broadcast is here.
The Lancet study was widely critiqued by the right for its methods, which were made public and employed very common statistical sampling techniques, some deriving from a Pentagon statistictian. So should the method behind Bush’s number be made public.
I trust a group of (hopefully) non-partisan public health experts far more than Bush and Rummy.
It turns my stomach that our president can actually justify this war to himself and others despite this massive and unnecessary loss of life. Will no one point out to him the immorality of “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here” when it causes the death of innocent women and children? He claims that we are bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East. What good is freedom when you must worry every day about your children dying, no to mention when your electricity will work and where your next job will come from?
December 14th, 2005 at 2:10 pm
This is absurd..without provoking you which im sure you would enjoy, do you ever have anything good to report? Precisely why your majority voice Howard Dean is so out of touch with Americans. All you people do is complain. If you tripped, fell, and broke your arm…somehow George Bush would be to blame. How about taking all the hate, all the energy for criticism, and putting it towards what our country needs…moderation.
December 14th, 2005 at 2:22 pm
The Bush water-carrying conservative is quite an interesting animal these days. I fully understand that you’ve painted yourself into quite a corner, what with the long time support of an immoral and illegal war, tax cuts that have not made you or anyone we know richer, and disgusting social policies that seem determined to undermine the progress our country has made over the past half century. But what’s all that compared to a little obsequience to the corporate Republican banner? Easier to stay on the bandwagon then wake yourself to the truth.
If you want moderation, let’s discuss facts, not spin. Oh wait, the right doesn’t like facts that contravene their world view. Better to attack, attack, attack. Me and Howard Dean are both crying in our beers.
Thanks for reading!!