Jousting with the Lancet: Pajamas Media Interviews Professor Gilbert Burnham
What is most hilarious about the left is their combination of stupidity, with believing themselves to be intellectuals and calling others stupid.
We don’t think the study found 500.000 death certificates. But LOGICALLY if 601.000 were killed in violence, and 87% of those in a “random” sample could provide death certificates, there most have been (at least) 500.000 death certificates issued.
Do you understand, Slate? Or is the left as ignorant about statistical sampling as economics, foreign policy, crime etc?
For the article to be credible there most be at least 500.000 violent death certificates issued by the Iraqi authorities. Otherwise a random sample of could not have found 87% with certificates.
Does anyone believe there are 500.000 certificates issued? Why not show us the records and end the debate.
Another memo to the left: Please stop sounding like impressed high school students by quoting confidence intervals. Confidence intervals are MEANINGLESS when the methodology is flawed.
Someone asked what the correct figure is. We now roughly how high this is, about 40.000 civilians and Iraqi security forces, and additional thousands of insurgents (the more the better). Most studies show about 10-15.000 civilians killed each year after the war. This is a tragedy, but still less than the 30-40.000 average during Saddam. It is however true that the last years of Saddam were not as violent than the average.
