Huh?

Buried in a story yesterday about the deaths of 7 US troops in Iraq was this nugget:

In another political setback, the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and was headed to
Iran for treatment, party officials said Sunday. Al-Hakim's absence is likely to create disarray in his Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq — a Shiite party the U.S. is counting on to push through benchmark reforms.

Insert your own snarky comment about the US medical and health insurance system here.