Source: President Talabani flies to U.S. for 'medical checkup' to lose weight

Left: Jalal Talabani has been president of Iraq since 2005. Along with Kurdish President Barzani he is the most influential Kurd in government. He recently spent two weeks in the hospital in Jordan for infections and exhaustion. His 'medical' trip to the U.S. exactly coincides with the arrival of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the most powerful Shi'ite politician in Iraq's parliament. Sources report that Hakim is here to be treated for lung cancer.

BAGHDAD, May 20 (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. "I will go ... to the United States of America to undergo general medical checks to reduce my weight."

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