Bob Hayes Online

The Lancet study on deaths in Iraq was highly controversial, and attacked by many bloggers and analysts, including me here and here, for its deficiencies. A new study done by the WHO and the Iraqi Health Ministry (news report, journal article) now shows that post-invasion deaths, while still far too high, are much lower than the numbers bandied about by Lancet. The WHO study used a much larger sample, and also drew on other sources of information to check its conclusions. I haven’t had a chance to get into the nitty-gritty, but at first glance it seems like a better study.

(Hat Tip: Marginal Revolution.)

Colorado blogger Major Andrew Olmsted was killed in Iraq yesterday. A testimonial, his final words (left in the event of his death), and a moving memorial/comments thread at Obsidian Wings. His last post for the Rocky Mountain News is here.

RIP Major Olmsted.

(H/T Resurrection Song.)

The inestimable Michael Totten continues his outstanding reporting from Iraq.

Happy New Year! A great old American tradition, the Rose Bowl Parade (officially, the Tournament of Roses Parade, but I’ve never met an actual human being who calls it that), kicks off in about a half an hour. The Parade started in 1890, and is seen by about a million people on the site, and watched by millions more on television.

Which apparently makes it a perfect opportunity for the Cindy Sheehan brigade (you remember Cindy, she’s the one who decided to quit political activism so she could mourn her dead son properly – guess that fell by the wayside) to protest the Iraq War and call for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The moonbats expect “hundreds or even thousands” of participants; history would indicate their assessments are usually optimistic by a factor of two to ten, so we can expect an actual turnout of between 20 and 500. Recent Sheehan-organized or focused events have had ludicrously tiny attendance; for some reason, most Americans are not motivated by Marxism, defeatism, isolationism, or (in the case of the impeachment drive) moonbattery.

Here’s to another ignominious debacle for the ANSWER brigade, and another lovely parade for the millions of Americans with their priorities in place.