Iraq's President treated in Germany

By Khalid Al-Ansary & Nayla Razzouk - Dec 20, 2012 4:16 AM ET

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the country’s first Kurdish head of state and a moderating force among the nation’s rival factions, isn’t in a coma and was flown today to Germany for treatment, the head of his office said.
The 79-year-old Talabani’s functions have been temporarily transfered to Vice President Khudair al-Khuzaie, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Daawa party, according to Naseer al-Ani. “He is not in a coma and his limbs are moving,” he said in a phone interview in Baghdad today, without giving further details. The New York Times and other media had earlier cited officials as saying the president was in a coma.
Enlarge image
An Iraqi soldier stands guard next to a picture of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, at the party's headquarters in Baghdad. Photographer: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images
Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman confirmed by phone that Talabani was taken to Germany today from the Baghdad hospital where he was admitted on Dec. 17 after suffering a stroke. He was accompanied by German doctors who were summoned to Baghdad to treat him. Medics from Iran and the U.K. also arrived in Iraq to check on Talabani, state-sponsored Iraqiya TV said yesterday.
Talabani has been a stabilizing force in Iraq, although his position is largely ceremonial. He was chosen as president by parliament in 2005 after Iraq’s first democratic election in 50 years, which followed the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein. He has worked to ease the conflict between the Shiite Muslim majority and the Sunni community that escalated into violence after the 2003 war, and the tensions between Iraq’s Arabs and Kurds mainly focused on disputed land and control of the nation’s oil wealth.
He began his political career in the 1950s and founded the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in 1975. His Peshmerga militia battled Hussein’s army in the 1970s and 1980s, and following the 1991 Gulf War he led a Kurdish uprising against the Iraqi government.
Iraq holds the world’s fifth-biggest crude reserves, according to BP Plc (BP/) statistics that include Canada’s oil sands.

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God speed so that he may see his country and its people thrive!



TAZ

So now he's alive ? More smoke perhaps? If not, let's hope he recovers quickly.

agree Taz, I hope for a speedy recovery for Tal. He's worked hard and it would be nice for him to see the efforts of his work.

Iraqi president in Germany for medical treatment

By By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA | Associated Press – 8 hrs ago

• 
  [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]Enlarge Photo
  Associated Press/ Karim Kadim - Iraqi Presidential security stand guard next to the Presidential ambulance outside the hospital where Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is receiving treatment at the Medical City …[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. Talabani's doctors have not formally said that the 79-year-old statesman suffered a stroke, though several other government officials have confirmed that is the case. Foreign medical experts began arriving in Baghdad on Wednesday to assist Iraqi doctors treating ailing President Jalal Talabani, who remains in a Baghdad intensive care unit after suffering a stroke. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
  

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Germany on Thursday for further medical treatment after suffering a stroke, leaving Baghdad without an influential mediator able to bridge the country's complex ethnic and sectarian rifts.

The ailing 79-year-old president was rushed to a hospital in the Iraqi capital late Monday because of what was described as a medical emergency.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press on Thursday that doctors have determined the president had a "very serious stroke," and that he is showing signs of improvement.

"He is starting to regain his senses. He is able to feel pain, and this is a sign of progress," Zebari said.

Talabani's spokesman, Nasser al-Ani, said the president is able to move some of his limbs and communicate with simple signals, but is unable to speak.

The decision to move Talabani to Germany was made after his condition was stabilized and he began to show signs of improvement, according to Iraqi officials.

Vice President Khudier al-Khuzaie, an Arab Shiite, will temporarily assume Talabani's duties during his absence, Zebari said.

Iraq's parliament has the authority to choose a new president should Talabani's office become vacant. The Kurds would likely insist on retaining the presidency to maintain the government's power-sharing balance.

Iraq at one point had three vice presidents at a time, though one resigned last year and the other, Sunni politician Tariq al-Hashemi, fled the country after arrest warrants were issued against him.

In Germany, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Talabani arrived on Thursday morning.

"I can confirm that the Iraqi President Talabani is being treated in Germany. I send him heartfelt wishes for a quick and full recovery," Westerwelle said.

Berlin's Charite hospital, the German capital's largest, confirmed Thursday that Talabani had been admitted to its Virchow Clinic but wouldn't give any details on his condition nor what he was being treated for, citing patient confidentiality.

In a statement on its official website, Talabani's office said the treatment he underwent in Baghdad "provided the right conditions for the transfer of (Talabani) out of the country for follow-up treatment in Germany." It gave no further details on his condition.

"His health condition is stable and much better," said Firyad Rawndouzi, a senior member of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

The presidency of Iraq is largely a ceremonial role. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is the head of government.

Talabani is overweight and has undergone several medical procedures in recent years, including heart surgery in 2008 and knee replacement surgery this year. He has previously received treatment in Germany.

Although his official powers are limited, Talabani is a senior Kurdish leader and has been a symbol of unity in Iraq. He has frequently used his position to mediate among Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, as well smaller minority groups.

Before he fell ill, Talabani was actively involved in trying to mediate in a crisis between Baghdad and the Kurds, who have their own fighters and considerable autonomy in their enclave in northern Iraq. The two sides last month moved additional troops into disputed areas along the Kurds' self-rule region, prompting fears that fighting could break out.

Last week, Talabani brokered a deal that calls on both sides to eventually withdraw troops from the contested areas, though there was no timetable for how soon the drawdown might take place.

___

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin, Adam Schreck and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad, and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

The above part in red is very interesting, because it tells who is currently doing the duties of president and it looks like the articles out of the constitution have not been envoked for the 30 days yet.

LIT

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