Miniter on the Civilian Iraqi body count:
When I investigated the 100,000 dead-civilians claim, I was surprised at how quickly it fell apart. The 100,000 figure is based on a single study in a British medical journal published just days before the 2004 elections. The authors were open about their anti-Bush bias. They got the 100,000 by knocking on doors in 33 neighborhoods across Iraq. They simply asked Iraqis how many civilian deaths they knew about. They did not take any steps to avoid double counting. They didn't demand any proof, such as a funeral notice or a newspaper clipping. Instead they decided to just trust Iraqis to give them straight dope. So if you interview Baghdad Bob you know what kind of answers you're going to get. In that chapter, I also uncovered four other major technical flaws with that study. The 100,000 dead civilians claim is provably false.
Even Iraq Body Count puts the number between 26,797 and (max) 30,163. To end-run the objections to that number, have a look at the profiles of the "Contacts and Team Members" who run the site: it is filled with self-proclaimed Peace Activists and the like.
One lie at a time.
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