En amerikansk forsker, Gilbert Burnham, har nektet å utlevere grunnlagsmateriale for en undersøkelse som hevdet at 650.000 var drept i Irak, et langt høyere tall enn antatt.
Undersøkelsen som ble publisert i fagbladet Lancet, vakte oppsikt. Den amerikanske foreningen for offentlige undersøkeler, AAPOR, mottok en klage og iverksatte sine egne undersøkelser. Meen Burnham nekter å samarbeide.
Gilbert Burnham said in the Lancet medical journal in 2006 that 650,000 civilians had died since 2003 – a figure far higher than other estimates.
A polling association in the US said Dr Burnham had refused to supply “basic facts” for its inquiry into his work.
It did not comment on the accuracy of his conclusion.
The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)began investigating Dr Burnham’s work in March 2008 after a complaint by one of its members.
His research was based on a survey of Iraqi households and concluded that by July 2006 about 655,000 Iraqi civilians had died as a result of the US-led invasion.
The Iraqi government does not keep precise records of civilians killed and neither do US forces, but in 2006 the Iraqi health ministry estimated that between 100,000 to 150,000 civilians had died.
The AAPOR’s executive council said in a statement carried by the Associated Press news agency: “When asked to provide several basic facts about this research, Burnham refused.”
It said it wanted to know the wording of questions asked and instructions and explanations given to respondents.
“Dr Burnham provided only partial information and explicitly refused to provide complete information about the basic elements of his research,” said Mary Losch, chair of the association’s standards committee.
She added that Dr Burnham’s refusal to co-operate “violates the fundamental standards of science, seriously undermines open public debate on critical issues and undermines the credibility of all survey and public opinion research.”
Iraqi death researcher censured
Uavhengige Iraq Body Count opererer med mellom 90.000 og 98.000 drepte.