More proof that the Lancet "Study" is birdcage liner

 
Remember the "Lancet Study"?

This was the controversial report, released in 2006, that claimed over 4 kazillion jillion Iraqi civilians had died at the hands of American troops. Or something like that.

As the London Times noted in 2007, Lancet refused to release the data used to fuel the study. So there was absolutely no way to validate or refute their assertions.

Gateway Pundit spotlights the latest Lancet-debunking news:

The powerful and revered Iraqi spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani issued a statement in September blasting the foreign press for, "Exaggerating about the reports of deaths and explosions and depicting them in a way as if tribal war is underway in Iraq." It was the first time that the Ayatollah attacked the foreign press.

But it probably won't be the last time.

Today, The National Journal dismantles this bogus study further:

Three weeks before the 2006 midterm elections gave Democrats control of Congress, a shocking study reported on the number of Iraqis who had died in the ongoing war. It bolstered criticism of President Bush and heightened the waves of dread -- here and around the world -- about the U.S. occupation of Iraq...

...Over the past several months, National Journal has examined the 2006 Lancet article... probed the problems of estimating wartime mortality rates; and interviewed the authors and their critics... NJ has identified potential problems with the research that fall under three broad headings: 1) possible flaws in the design and execution of the study; 2) a lack of transparency in the data, which has raised suspicions of fraud; and 3) political preferences held by the authors and the funders, which include George Soros's Open Society Institute.

George Soros? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

Update: LGF: it's the final nail in the coffin for the Lancet pile of manure "study".