Michael Ware

Journalist

LDT: More on Talabani and Abdul Mahdi


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Length: 2:09


KITTY PILGRIM: Jamie McIntyre reports on the warning about our military's readiness for another war.

Michael Ware reports from Baghdad on a new crisis at the top of the Iraqi government.

And Ed Henry reports on the vice president's political tactics with our so-called allies.

And we turn first to Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.



PILGRIM: Well, a bloody day of violence in Iraq. A suicide bomber killed at least 14 people in Ramadi in Al Anbar Province. A bomb in Baghdad wounded an Iraqi vice president, killed 12 people. And at the same time, Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is receiving emergency treatment in Jordan after falling ill.

Michael Ware reports from Baghdad -- Michael.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kitty, in the past 24 hours, we've seen both the Iraqi president and one of Iraq's two vice presidents admitted to different hospitals. One in a health scare, one as the result of a bombing which is believed to have been an attempted assassination.

The president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, a man in his early 70s, is now in neighboring Jordan in a hospital in the capital, Amman, undergoing treatment. There has been media reports that he suffered either a stroke or heart attack; however, both his family and his political faction have claimed that his condition relates to fatigue and low blood pressure. Jordanian hospital officials claim, however, that he's now in intensive care following a procedure where a catheter was inserted into his heart.

However, in Baghdad, the Shia vice president for Iraq, Adel Abdul Mahdi, was treated in hospital for injuries sustained in a bombing attack whilst he was visiting the Ministry for Municipalities and Public Works, a ministry controlled by his political faction, the most dominant Shia bloc within the government. Many are calling this an attempted assassination or a strike against this most potent political grouping within the government -- Kitty.