'655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion'

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | '655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion': "The mortality rate before the war was 5.5 per 1,000, but since the invasion, it has risen to 13.3 per 1,000 per year, they say. Between June 2005 and June 2006, the mortality rate hit a high of 19.8 per 1,000.

Thus they calculate that 654,965 Iraqis have died as a consequence of the invasion. It is an estimate and the mid-point, and most likely of a range of numbers that could also be correct in the context of their statistical analysis. But even the lowest number in the range - 392,979 - is higher that anyone else has suggested. Of the deaths, 31% were ascribed to the US-led forces. Most deaths were from gunshot wounds (56%), with a further 13% from car bomb injuries and 14% the result of other explosions."

My god. What have they done? Even if these are overestimates, the scale of the Iraq disaster is equivalent to genocide.

Which means this:

"Gordon Brown offered unequivocal public support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq in the final five days, only after deciding that Tony Blair would sack him if he did not, David Blunkett has claimed."
Blunkett: PM was ready to sack Brown over Iraq

means that Gordon Brown made a very bloody miscalculation when Robin Cook was doing the right thing and Clare Short was being shafted.

I wonder what his moral compass tells him now about that?