Jousting with the Lancet: Pajamas Media Interviews Professor Gilbert Burnham
I think the only vulnerable point of the study is that very little is known about the data itself. We have method and sample sizes and totals of responses.
What we don’t know is who selected the interviewers, how well they understood and carried out their instructions, what recent death certificates mean in Iraq and how adequately they were inspected.
We also don’t know much about how honestly ordinary Iraqis wish to respond to a survey such as this.
It is very unlikely that data or conclusions were faked at the higher levels. It is the field work that may be faulty.
The data will eventually be given. That may or may not strengthen the 655K conclusion.
It also is possible that the data is not clear and the matter turns to mush. We shall see.
But whatever the professional fate of Burnham and this survey not one of those actual dead in Iraq will be revived whether one likes one number and not another. The important matter is how to improve things now.
