Iraq’s president hospitalized after stroke
BAGHDAD — Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq whose influence in mediating disputes among the country’s many political factions has far outweighed the limited powers of the office he occupies, suffered a stroke and was in critical condition Tuesday in a Baghdad hospital.
Talabani’s illness cast a shadow over the Kurdish lands in the north where he once fought a guerrilla war and where he now lives, and added a new element of uncertainty to the country’s divided politics, a year after the departure of the U.S. military left Iraq’s leaders to steer the country’s shaky democracy on their own.
Officials and doctors said Talabani, who is 79 and has been treated abroad for medical conditions in recent years, was in stable condition, but privately other officials suggested his condition was more serious. A hospital official, as well as a high-level government official — both of whom requested anonymity out of respect for Talabani’s family — said the president was in a coma.
At a brief news conference Tuesday at the hospital where the president was being treated, a doctor described his condition as “stable” and said he expected it to improve. On Twitter, Talabani’s son, Qubad Talabani, who represents the Kurdistan Regional Government in Washington, wrote that his father “is currently stable” and “we hope can begin his recovery soon.”
On Monday Jalal Talabani met with Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki to discuss Iraq’s political problems. Afterward, a statement from Talabani’s office said, the two men stressed the need for calm and transparent dialogue, as well as “working according to the spirit of the constitution and the national agreements” as the way to solve the country’s problems.
Al-Maliki has visited Talabani in the hospital, according to officials.
Talabani was apparently rushed to the hospital Monday evening, although no announcement was made until Tuesday morning. He is being treated at a facility known as the Baghdad Medical City.