Lancet Study: 655,000 'Excess' Iraqi Deaths

Newly-released documents from the British government have added a new twist to the story of the previously-rejected Lancet study of Iraqi casualties since the invasion in 2003. The report, which was called "not credible" by President Bush and also rejected by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, used a "careful door-to-door methodology" and estimated that 655,000 Iraqis -- almost 3 percent of the country's population -- died as a result of the war between March of 2003 and June 2006.

It seems that the prior rejection of the study by Bush and Blair was purely political posturing, as British internal documents have revealed that numerous high-level British officials considered the study to be "robust", "close to best practice" and "a tried and tested method of measuring mortality in conflict zones". This means that the numbers suggested by the U.S. and British governments -- when they even acknowledge civilian casualties -- are absurdly low, and the Lancet estimate of 655,000 is probably very close to the actual number of civilian deaths caused by the war.

Now, in addition to the more than 3,200 American troops and 258 other coalition troops that have been killed, as well as the more than 23,000 American troops wounded, the war has resulted in a staggering number of more than half a million civilian deaths. It is hard to imagine how those who still support the war can justify this utterly shocking loss of life as "worth it". In a mere 3 years, the war that Bush started has managed to kill almost 2/3 the number that Saddam Hussein killed in 24 years of brutal dictatorship. The war has been more than five times as deadly as living under Saddam's rule, yet amazingly some Bush supporters still claim that Iraqis are "better off" than they were.