Ethan Zuckerman, who, unlike me, is a data-driven guy who happens to have a heart that isn’t stopped by borders, re-considers the disputed-until-ignored Lancet report that said there were about 100,000 more Iraqi deaths during the war than there would have been without the war. Ethan thinks there’s good reason for thinking the report’s methodology and numbers are pretty reliable.

As Ethan says: “It’s hard to have a debate about what to do about the morass we face in Iraq. But it’s lots harder to have it if the numbers we’re working with may be low by a factor of six.”

And I repeat my question: Why doesn’t our government have its own estimate of the number of Iraqi civilians killed? Instead, Bush is relying on media reports. Does he really not give a shit? Or does our government — our government — have a number it doesn’t want to let its citizens know?
[Tags: iraq EthanZuckerman]

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