Iraq toll report 'exaggerated'From correspondents in Baghdad

AFP via News.com au ^ | October 12, 2006 | Agence France-Presse

[WmShirerAdmirer]

THE Iraqi government today described as "exaggerated" an independent US study which estimated that 655,000 Iraqis had died since the 2003 US invasion.

US President George W. Bush had similarly called the report "not credible".

The study estimated that one Iraqi in 40 had died as a result of the conflict by comparing the death rates from the period before the war to the period from March 2003 to June 2006.

"This figure, which in reality has no basis, is exaggerated," said Iraqi government spokesman Ali Debbagh.

"It is a figure which flies in the face of the most obvious truths," he said, calling on research institutions to adopt precise and transparent criteria especially when the research concerns victim tolls.

Mr Bush said at a White House media conference that he and his top military advisers believe "the methodology is pretty well discredited" in the study.

The US president in the past has estimated the number of Iraqi deaths to be closer to 30,000, and reaffirmed that number today.

"I stand by the figure," he said. "Six hundred thousand or whatever they guessed at ... it's not credible."

[savedbygrace]

THE Iraqi government today described as "exaggerated" an independent US study which estimated that 655,000 Iraqis had died since the 2003 US invasion.

Study? The way it was described, it was a poll, not a study.

[Doogle]

.."and then ,and then..the American reporter said maybe it was 40,000, and I said maybe, and he was happy, and and then he said, maybe it was 80,000, and I said, maybe..and he smiled wide...and then he said who knows? maybe it was 100,000 and he laughed,and he made us laugh....and we told our friends and they laughed....and so the reporter asked them, how many people did you know who died and Mamood said, 200,000 and peed his pants laughing cause Mamood can't count to 10, and the reporter left....and now were standing here laughing like fools and he didn't pay us like he said he would....where's our money?

Doogle

[fatnotlazy]

There are numerous studies and numerous websites devoted to how many people have died. Not one of them is accurate. One guy I was talking to sometime back referred me to one of those "dead counter" websites...gave figures that would at times actually go down, instead of up. Furthermore, the site didn't break down how many died as a result of the war, or how many died of natural causes. Also, it did not indicate if the dead perished at the hands of the coalition or the insurgents. Of course, this particular website and many others take the position that no matter what or who caused a death in Iraq, "it's all Bush's fault."

[WmShirerAdmirer]

Good laugh for a dreary morning here.

[Doogle]

:)

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