Who is counting?

A freedom of information request shows that the Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Ministry of Defence warned government officials against criticising the Lancet study of Iraqi civilian casualties that estimated that over 650,000 lives had been lost as a result of the illegal American led invasion and occupation. He described the methodology that the study used as "close to best practice" and said that the "study design is robust." A statistician at the Department of International Development also said that the method used in the survey was "tried and tested" and, if anything, could lead to an underestimate of the number of deaths.

Over to you Tony.