Skipped everybody else's comments to leave this note for Jörg:

I see that you followed up on that tip I gave you about the January 2006 Mortality Survey for the DR Congo led by the IRC (Intl. Rescue Committee) and published in The Lancet medical journal. Good boy. Here is a link to the IRC press release in case anyone is interested:
http://www.theirc.org/news/page-27819067.html

I also see that The Lancet editor Richard Horton fell back on those DRC numbers and the world community's general acceptance of the credibility of that mortality survey when he came under fire about the latest Iraq survey. As I said to you before, deaths in Iraq is a big deal for the media and the world community, deaths in the DR Congo is not. Go figure. Here is an excerpt from the IRC press release about that DRC Mortality Study:

The prestigious British medical journal The Lancet has published the results of an International Rescue Committee-led mortality survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo in its January 7 issue. The article [registration required], containing slightly revised data from the IRC mortality study initially released in December 2004, demonstrates that nearly four million people have died as a result of the ongoing conflict.

“It is a sad indictment of us all that seven years into this crisis ignorance about its scale and impact is almost universal, and that international engagement remains completely out of proportion to humanitarian need,” IRC’s health director Rick Brennan said in a Lancet press release.

The three previous IRC studies, conducted between 2000 and 2002, demonstrated that an estimated 3.3 million people had died as a result of the war. Latest estimates from the 2004 study highlight how 3.9 million people have died since the conflict began in 1998.

“We have conducted additional tests that have provided a more accurate estimate of mortality,” Brennan says. “This additional analysis resulted in higher estimates of both the crude mortality rate and the mortality rate in children below five years of age .”

The latest figures indicate that almost 38,000 deaths occur in DR Congo every month above what is considered a ‘normal level’ for the country, translating into 1,250 excess deaths every day. Over 70 percent of these deaths, most due to easily preventable and treatable diseases, occur in the insecure eastern provinces.

“Less than two percent of the deaths were directly due to violence,” Brennan points out. “However, if the effects of violence – such as the insecurity that limits access to health care facilities – were removed, mortality rates would fall to almost normal levels.”

38,000 deaths a month. Mainly innocent women and children dying of hunger and illness from easily preventable disease, and I'm supposed to be disturbed about death rates in Iraq!? What, are you stupid?

Reuters AlertNet has an article by Francesco Checchi on the Iraq Mortality Study published by The Lancet medical journal. See the Oct 12th article "Doubts about Iraq Death Toll" at this URL:
http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/116066724942.htm

Fuchur you are right. People worldwide "are disturbed" about the violence in Iraq for various reasons, ignoring equally violent or even more dangerous conflicts and humanitarian emergencies elsewhere. I wonder what would happen if the North Korea nuclear crisis spiralled out of control and Kim sent millions of troops over the DMZ into the ROK and popped off a few ballistic missiles in the direction of Japan. Experts estimate that the death toll could easily exceed 500,000 in the first 24-48 hours. Would this study be of any interest to people then? I doubt it.