Az-Zaman noted another interesting event; for the first time, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) has directed criticisms against the Iranian government. Az-Zaman’s analysis is that Tehran is growing suspicious of SCIRI’s rapprochement with the American administration. A SCIRI leader included criticisms against the “Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs” in his Friday sermon. SCIRI was considered to be one of Iran’s closest allies in Iraq. Az-Zaman quoted sources from the organization who said that the falling-out was caused by the denial of al-Hakeem’s request for Tehran to stop supporting the Mahdi Army, his main competitor in the Shi`a scene.
http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/1296/Iraqi_Papers_Sat_Arrest_Of_Iraqi_Vice-Minister
General: Recent Helo Downings Nothing New
***********************Interesting Excerpt*********************************
Having researched various dangers Sloggers might fight the following comparative facts from Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. (excerpted from Design News, 10-4-93) and other government sources. Integrating Gen. Cody' estimate of 140,000 hours per crash would make flying an American helicopter during wartime less dangerous than skydiving and about 5 times more dangerous than general aviation flying. Its impossible to match various statistics because a hang glider crash kills one person yet a military helo may kill a dozen or more. So for relevant risk we have used fatal events instead of fatalities
Fatal events per million hrs of exposure
Skydiving 128.71
Ultralight Flying 72.50
FLYING HELICOPTERS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN 71.42
Motorcycle Racing 35.00 Private Aviation 30.00 General Aviation 15.58
On-road Motorcycling 8.80
Scuba Diving 1.98
Living (all causes of death) 1.53
Swimming 1.07
Agricultural Flying 2.00
Snowmobiling .88
Passenger cars .47
Water skiing .28
Bicycling .26
Flying (scheduled domestic airlines) .15 Hunting .08
Cosmic Radiation from transcontinental flights .035
Home Living (active) .027
Traveling in a School Bus .022
Passenger Car Post-collision fire .017
Home Living, active & passive (sleeping) .014
Residential Fire .003