Iraqi Shiite leader has lung cancer

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party and a key figure in the country's political reform process, was diagnosed with lung cancer and traveled immediately to Iran to seek medical treatment, officials said Sunday.

The development was expected to create disarray in the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, the powerful political organization the U.S. has counted on to help push through reforms such as a revenue-sharing oil law, constitutional amendments and expanded political opportunities for Sunnis.

Hours earlier, President Jalal Talabani flew to the U.S. for a medical checkup and a three-week-long vacation, sidelining another key Iraqi politician at a critical time.
Talabani, a Kurd and a close ally of al-Hakim, was hospitalized briefly in Jordan in February after collapsing because of exhaustion and dehydration caused by lung and sinus infections.

Al-Hakim flew to the U.S. on Wednesday for tests after doctors at a hospital in Baghdad detected signs of cancer in one of his lungs. The diagnosis was confirmed at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, officials in the al-Hakim organization said.

Al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Islamic Council since 2003, left the U.S. early Sunday for Iran, where he will undergo chemotherapy treatment, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Iran, Iraq's Shiite neighbor to the east, hosted al-Hakim in exile for more than two decades during Saddam Hussein's rule. His party, formerly known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, was founded there with Iranian help in the early 1980s.

Al-Hakim, who gave up a 30-year smoking habit last year, has been coughing and suffering from high blood pressure for months, the officials said. His cough became considerably worse during two days of party meetings this month, when he was re-elected party leader.

Al-Hakim, 57, wears clerical robes and a turban although he abandoned seminary studies years ago to concentrate on politics. He took over the leadership of the party after his brother and party founder, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, was killed in a massive bombing in the holy city of Najaf in August 2003.

Al-Hakim chose treatment in Iran rather than the U.S. because he wanted to be close to his family and proper treatment was not available in Iraq, party officials said. Al-Hakim's choice of Iran also reflected his close links to the Shiite theocracy there.

Officials at the Texas hospital told al-Hakim that Shiite Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Jordan were the countries nearest to Iraq where he could receive proper treatment.

Saudi Arabia and Jordan have often expressed concern that the empowerment of Iraq's majority Shiites had helped non-Arab Iran to expand its influence in the region and that Iraq's once-dominant Sunni Arab minority was being marginalized under Shiite rule.

Al-Hakim's absence could last several months or longer, said the officials, thus robbing Iraq from a key political player who has been a major partner in U.S. efforts to build a democratic system following Saddam's ouster in 2003, despite his ties to Iran.

For his party, the impact of his absence is potentially more dramatic. "We are in a difficult situation," said Hameed Moalah, a lawmaker and senior official of the Supreme Council.

Talabani, the Iraqi president, looked pale and slightly unkempt at a news conference Saturday after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Baghdad.

However, Azad Jindyani, spokesman for Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denied the 73-year-old had health problems. "Talabani's health is very good, but he felt tired recently ... because of the work and meetings," he said.