"We don't do body counts"

posted by The Sailor @ 6:15 PM Permalink

And now we know why:

British backtrack on Iraq death toll

[...]
The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad, [...] reflecting the inherent uncertainties in such extrapolations, said they were 95 per cent certain that the real number of deaths lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636.

The conclusion, based on interviews and not a body count, was disputed by some experts, and rejected by the US and British governments. But the chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Roy Anderson, described the methods used in the study as "robust" and "close to best practice". Another official said it was "a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones".

Oh, and how is that whole surge thing going? Ehh, not so good:Civilian casualties up in Iraq, more US soldiers killed

Labels: Iraq war