Dr. Les Roberts, co-author of a John Hopkins study on civilian mortality in Iraq since the invasion, spoke at the monthly meeting of ‘Back to Democracy’, in Trumansburg N.Y. on November 17, 2006. The study was conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

He contrasted the media coverage of their recent study estimating 650,000 violent deaths in Iraq due to the war with the coverage of a similar study in 2004. Both studies were published in the British medical journal The Lancet, but the earlier study which found 100,000 deaths statistically the most probable number, did not gain the attention by the media that the recent study did.

Many in the audience supported Les Robert’s campaign to represent New York’s 24th Congressional District and wanted to know what had happened to cause him to drop out of the primary race. He revealed quite a bit about the machinations that denied him a primary run but he remains upbeat about the Democratic party taking both House and Senate, in large measure because it allows the Democrats to call hearings.

The video of the meeting is 1 hr : 36 minutes total but is broken down into five segments. Les Roberts’ talk proper is thirteen minutes. The Q&A, which represents the bulk of the meeting, has been summarized by question and indexed by time-code to allow easy access to the parts. A DVD will be available soon. Please email Cris McConkey if you’d like one (voluntary sliding scale contribution requested). If you are interested in footage for public access television, please contact me.

Back to Democracy normally meets the last Friday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Trumansburg Fire Hall. The group also screens videos and has other special events. To be notified of upcoming events and activities, contact Margo Alexander