The Wire

Startling numbers of deaths revealed by a new mortality survey of Iraq have prompted renewed calls for the US to rethink its involvement in the Iraqi war. American opponents of the war believe the figures prove the US is failing to provide security for Iraqi civilians. Over 600,000 more Iraqis may have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. Lead author of the study Dr Gilbert Burnham spoke with Ela Smith about the main causes of the additional deaths in Iraq and about the implications of the survey.