It reminds me of a story - maybe something like it happened once - let's say it was George Bernard Shaw in conversation at a ruling class dinner with the woman seated next to him - he inquires, "Would you spend the night with me for a million pounds?" She says, "Yes, I suppose I would." "What about five pounds?" "What do you take me for??!!!" "We've already established that - now we're negotiating the price."

In the same way, this controversy is about HOW MANY Iraqis our invasion and occupation has resulted in the death of - how many were directly killed by our weapons, how many by their fellow Iraqis in the consequent state of civil war, how many by the social disruptions, etc. It's basically quibbling about the price they - the Iraqis - have paid for being so damn attractive to the Bush Gang. The Iraqis were the ones who were dressed so provocatively, who were behaving in such a flirty way, who were hanging around in an unsavory neighborhood - it's THEIR fault.

P.S. Above is sarcasm.

Interesting. Here's an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about the same study. I would be interested to read about any studies that dispute these findings. Do they actually exist?

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/at-least-600000-civilians-killed-in-iraq-study-finds/2006/10/11/1160246197531.html

Dave: No. What I've found is five people, none of whom are known for their intimacy with academic rigor, who say to every reporter they can find that they just don't believe their ears. Bush, Casey, Rumsfeld, Howard, and (as a figleaf) the Brookings Institution's Michael E. O'Hanlon.

Sadly, Iraq Body Count made the awesome error of equivocating: "We were informed of this study late on Tuesday by a journalist, and have decided not to offer further comment until we have read and digested the full report. Once the Lancet report goes public, we will issue a full statement on our web-site. We are not offering individual interviews to journalists at this time."

Added to Bush's headline quote, the Iraq Body Count statement lent Bush credence and eroded what should have been overwhelming applause for the Hopkins School's dangerous and important work. They should have said, "We haven't seen the study but we know our numbers represent only a miniscule proportion of all deaths in the country. Few deaths outside central Baghdad are reported in the media, and we base our number on press reports."

Jonathan:

Feel secure also in knowing that your brain will not be cluttered with big numbers regarding the exact amount in millions, billions or even trillions of tax dollars being siphoned into contractors' pockets since there are no inspectors in Iraq to regulate this money.

Could it be possible that Halliburton is stashing all of that money away to issue rebates for all of those resurrected Iraqis? Probably not. That would mean having to keep track of names, dates and numbers and we've already been told that the occupation forces "don't do body counts".