BUSH: Johns Hopkins "not credible". "Doesn't believe" 655K dead

[Bluebear]

NEW YORK - President Bush says he doesn't believe it. Some experts have a problem with it. But several others say it seems sound. Such was the varied reception for a controversial new study that estimated the Iraq war has led to the deaths of nearly 655,000 Iraqis as of July.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad derived that estimate from a door-to-door survey, conducted by doctors, of 1,849 households in Iraq. Taking the number of deaths reported by household residents, they extrapolated to a nationwide figure...

The new study — which attributes roughly 600,000 of the deaths directly to violence and 55,000 more to other war-related causes — was released Wednesday on the Web site of The Lancet, a respected medical journal. But just how good is its conclusions?

"I don't consider it a credible report," President Bush said Wednesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061012/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_death_toll_5