Last night I was chatting with my fiancee about Iraq and the number of deaths. While we knew very well that over 1000 U.S. soldiers have died there since the invasion (a number that's been widely reported) I didn't know how many Iraqi's had died. This number hasn't been reported, yet every day there are news reports describing scores of Iraqi deaths, every day.
Report: 100,000-plus Iraqi civilians dead
Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 29 (UPI) (Washington Times)
I'm saddened now to learn the number. It's only slightly comforting that this is a survey, the number is an estimate, and that there are conflicting estimates from other scientists.
Iraq deaths claim 'to be studied' (BBC)
The UK Government will "examine with very great care" claims 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the US-led invasion, Jack Straw has said.
That BBC report goes over the issue in more detail, showing how the study was conducted.
Household Survey Sees 100,000 Iraqi Deaths (Washington Post)
By EMMA ROSS
The Associated Press
Friday, October 29, 2004; 3:03 AM
This article also goes into more detail. For example describing that they picked a survey area, randomly selected some houses, and questioned the occupants of the houses. The methodology is just like other poll-taking activity, like TV ratings, except this time they're trying to measure the death rate. Then from the death rate they're projecting the number of deaths.
Finally, we also have the journal articles themselves:
Mortality before and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: cluster sample survey
[Full Text]
Les Roberts, Riyadh Lafta, Richard Garfield, Jamal Khudhairi, Gilbert Burnham
The war in Iraq: civilian casualties, political responsibilities
[Full Text]
Richard Horton
I haven't read either one, both require registration before doing so.
No comments:
Post a Comment