http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ has a pretty good response to the Lancet article here:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/press/pr14/0.php
If you follow the pages through to the ending summary page, the last paragraph is heartbreakingly simple and yet, the truth it states is stunning in its simplicity.
......... totals of the magnitude generated by this study are unnecessary to brand the invasion and occupation of Iraq a human and strategic tragedy.
Lo
P.S. to Janet...the DIME story is back on the other thread, I think....we've moved the Iraq story to this thread in order not to confuse the two. Just as a quick answer, however, it's not at all unusual or uncommon for ALL countries and all peoples to be continually inventing new weapons.....of all sorts - conventional, nuclear, chemical and biological.
It's what men do.
They get scared and they invent new and improved ways to kill one another in an attempt to allay their fears.
It doesn't work, it's never worked, but they do it anyhow....because to not do it would mean you would have to do one of two things....give up or find a better way.
Lo