Jousting with the Lancet: More Data, More Debate over Iraqi Deaths

Theoretically, the public health surveys and polls that have been conducted in Iraq -- at great risk to the people involved -- should help inform and further the debate. But the data is complicated by different research approaches and their attendant caveats. The matter has been further confused by anemic reporting, with news articles usually framed as a "he said / she said" story, instead of an exploration and interpretation of research findings. Full Story »

Posted by Judith Davidsen

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Roland F. Hirsch
1.3
by Roland F. Hirsch - Oct. 1, 2008

This opinion piece has a veneer of balance, but in reality is highly slanted. For one thing, the Lancet article the author of this blog supports has no credibility. It was given rush publication with no review in order to influence the U.S. 2004 Presidential election. Period. The reputation of The Lancet has suffered serious damage from this and other partisan articles. No credible scientific journal accepts the Lancet article as having any validity. The statistical error bars of the study are huge, and statisticians universally consider the uncertainties to make the study worthless. This opinion piece is uninformed about statistics and thus has little merit as journalism.

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