BIG — AND DEVASTATING — NEWS ON THAT LANCET STUDY claiming massive civilian deaths in Iraq. A National Journal cover story by Neil Munro suggests the possibility of outright scientific fraud. Munro notes serious problems with the study, and a failure on the part of The Lancet’s staff to determine if the data on which it was based — data which the authors will not share — were even true. In addition, there are problems with conflicts of interest and political bias. This is a big deal story; it’ll be interesting to see if it gets the attention it deserves.

UPDATE: Some background here. (Bumped).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Much more here. “This should be a lesson to Old Media that a little digging is in order when something so out of line with previous reports shows up. But it’s one that probably won’t be learned — at least when outlier studies like Lancet’s fit their advocacy template.”