'655,000 Iraqis dead since 2003' - Survey

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This survey was made by asking 1,850 families, comprising more than 12,800 people in dozens of 40-household clusters around Iraq. They're the only survey who actually went around asking how many died, all other surveys have been made by counting dead bodies usually at morgues or through newspaper reports. They also didn't ask people for numbers of dead until the end of the interview, after hearing their accounts of what's happened since 2003.

31% of all violent deaths were attributable to US-led coalition forces.

Whether this is true or not, they present a compelling argument, and judging by the news reports we hear on TV and radio every day, the official figure of 30,000-60,000 could easily be wrong.

Of course, Bush was quick to dismiss this report but would you really expect anything different? Read more below, link to the full story at the bottom.

An estimated 655,000 Iraqis have died since 2003 who might still be alive but for the US-led invasion, according to a survey by a US university.

The research compares mortality rates before and after the invasion from 47 randomly chosen areas in Iraq.

The figure is considerably higher than estimates by official sources or the number of deaths reported in the media.

It is vigorously disputed by supporters of the war in Iraq, including US President George W Bush.

John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH) estimate that the mortality rates have more than doubled since the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, causing an average of 500 deaths a day.

In the past, Mr Bush has put the civilian death toll in Iraq at 30,000, and hours after details of the latest research were published he dismissed JHBSPH's methodology as "pretty well discredited".

The John Hopkins researchers argue their statistical approach is more reliable than counting dead bodies, given the obstacles preventing more comprehensive fieldwork in the violent and insecure conditions of Iraq.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6040054.stm

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