Thank you, very helpful.
I did not know what the civilian casualty figures were likely to be for other wars so had no comparison.
The timing of the release to coinside with a political event definately concerned me as I am used to reading hard science papers and that kind of thing is just not done.
I did not follow your logic on the sample sites this seemed OK to me but it did not seem to allow for rural sampling, which I assumed was a limitation impossed but the security situation rather than a deliberate effort to skew results.
As a first stage of sampling, 50 clusters were selected
systematically by Governorate with a population
proportional to size approach, on the basis of the 2004
UNDP/Iraqi Ministry of Planning population estimates
(table 1). At the second stage of sampling, the
Governorate’s constituent administrative units were
listed by population or estimated population, and
location(s) were selected randomly proportionate to
population size. The third stage consisted of random
selection of a main street within the administrative unit
from a list of all main streets. A residential street was
then randomly selected from a list of residential streets
crossing the main street. On the residential street, houses
were numbered and a start household was randomly
selected. From this start household, the team proceeded
to the adjacent residence until 40 households were
surveyed. For this study, a household was defined as a
unit that ate together, and had a separate entrance from
the street or a separate apartment entrance.