Sir,
it takes particular cheek to cite the partisan TCS website refering to the Lancet as “Al-Jazeera on the Thames” when the website in question is well known for its activism on behalf of corporate intrerests and the “journalist” who provided you with this quote has managed to both misread and misrepresent the Lancet report [1] in his own writings on the subject.
He made exactly the same mistake as your article did when it stated that:
The report’s authors admit it drew heavily on the rebel stronghold of Falluja, which has been plagued by fierce fighting. Strip out Falluja, as the study itself acknowledged, and the mortality rate is reduced dramatically.
When in fact the excess mortality figure the report arrived at, of 98,000, was reached with the Falluja figures left out of the calculations. If these had been included, the figure would have been even higher.
All of which leads me to conclude that the writer of your article, rather than reading the report itself and drawing his own conclusions, has instead relied on the accusations of those for whom this report is embarassing and who have an ulterior motive in bringing it into doubt.
Yours sincerily,
Martin Wisse
[1]: PDF file