Iraq's president heads to U.S. to lose weight

Source: Reuters



Iraq's president heads to U.S. to lose weight

Sun May 20, 9:48 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Tired and battling obesity, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani flew to the United States on Sunday for rest and help in tackling his weight problem.

Talabani, in his early 70s, left from the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya in northeastern
Iraq for a trip that could take several weeks.

His office denied local media reports that Talabani was suffering from any specific illness and said he was in general good health apart from his weight. It issued a statement quoting the president from a news conference on May 15.

"I don't have any health problems except my obesity and I will treat it, God willing," the statement quoted Talabani as saying.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070520/wl_nm/iraq_president_dc

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Umm... just ummm

Ummm....just ummm. We are now supposed to be responsible for fat Iraqis appointed by W?

I hope that doesn't ruin your PR issue but Bush did not appoint this man.

No one was approved in Iraq without Bush's prior approval.

In addition to Bush not wanting him dead instead, he was also elected. A quick glance at the wikipedia for Jalal Talibani will demonstrate that. Just because it's not an American presidential system with an electoral college doesn't mean he somehow is serving at the sole behest of Bush with no involvement by Iraqis whatsoever. That may not be saying much. I realize it's not. But I get tired of even liberals showing a complete disregard for objective reality.

This guys got a weight problem and he waddles off to the U.S. while our troops are dying there daily? FO.

go on a diet in Iraq? :wtf:

I'd think the stress alone would be a major appetite surpressant.

Mz Pip
:dem:

:evilgrin:

Aren't there more imminent problems than your fatness!??!!

I guess it's us. But damn those homeless Americans who are messing up our cities. Right?

in 130F heat!?

.... right? Please say this is an Onion piece.

And unsurprisingly, a few posters here find it A OK.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/197799D6-6B55-4A65-BEB1-A4C609DB259B.htm

Perhaps for some of that good ole American bariatric surgery?

http://www.mayoclinic.org/bariatric-surgery/

That way he will be a smaller target when he goes back to Iraq.

.....Talabani, a 73-year-old Sunni Kurd, boarded a plane in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. He arrived Sunday night in Rochester, Minn., where he left a car surrounded by several security guards and entered the Mayo Clinic, local television showed.


from LATimes

He and his contingent will stay here indefinitely at our expense (citing medical reasons, of course). His family and friends will come and join him too, at our expense.

puppets?

Bigger by far, since it's not at all clear that what just renamed itself from SCIRI can do horsetrading and influence peddling properly within the Maliki government without its head rainmaker. Talibani, while a bigshot, has a more ceremonial position and while his dying from a heart attack for being too fat would be most inconvenient, he's irrelevant if nothing ever makes it out of parliament to reach his pen for signature in the first place. That's where al-Hakim comes into play.

Besides, no, we don't know if there's word that something big is coming down within the next few weeks; Juan Cole refused to speculate far about it on his blog but I'm sure most observers will keep their eyes open. Point being, with Talibani and al-Hakim out of the country, that's a significant leadership drain.

...Yeah, Maliki's still there, but what of it?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2853446

Juan Cole didn't wanna guess too far without any basis but this story seems to be such a basis...

Either way, the US is permitting this because Talibani's a big political ally in Iraq (vis a vis the Kurds) and the US has no interest in any harm coming to him, either from a heart attack or from increased militia violence.

all these negative reports are coming out about Maliki.

yeah, weightless, yes, south beach diet, yeah that's it...

:eyes: