It is one of the most politically charged questions that any researcher can tackle: how many people have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion? Four public-health experts provided an answer last week. Their result — a death rate that has risen from 5.5 per thousand per year to 13.3 — implies that since the invasion there have been 650,000 'excess' deaths, 2.5% of the population. Predictably, the finding has met with criticism from supporters of the war from the US president downwards. If it holds, the study will be a key publication in the growing field of conflict epidemiology. Understanding who is dying, how and where in Iraq is vital for efforts to rebuild the country. So once the political criticisms are set aside, how does the study stack up scientifically?
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