A study by the British online medical journal Lancet finds that 655,000 Iraqis have died-since the U.S.-led invasion began.

Violence including gunfire and bombs caused the majority of deaths but thousands of people died from worsening health and environmental conditions directly related to the conflict that began in 2003, U.S. and Iraqi public health researchers said.

“Since March 2003, an additional 2.5 percent of Iraq’s population have died above what would have occurred without conflict,” according to the survey of Iraqi households, titled “The Human Cost of the War in Iraq.”

Let’s see how George W. spins this one. I expect he’ll use his regular arsenal of words: freedom, democracy. He’ll pull out the T word and make a statement about how Iraq is the frontline in the battle against terrorism.

Violence claimed about 601,000 people, the survey estimated — the majority killed by gunfire, “though deaths from car bombing have increased from 2005,” the study says.