Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Cracks Lame Iraqi President Jokes during TV Interview

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, which aired on Al-Iraqiya TV on February 23, 2008.

Interviewer: We know that you are a man with a sense of humor, and we would like to hear at least one joke.

Jalal Talabani: Jokes these days portray the president of Iraq as a simpleton...

Interviewer: No.

Jalal Talabani: That's the bottom line of all these jokes. According to one joke, the president of Iraq was walking down the street by himself. Two men saw him from a distance and began arguing. One said it was the president, while the other said it was impossible for the president to be alone in the street. True, there is security and stability, but not to that extent. So they made a bet. They caught up with him and saw that it was indeed the president. The one who lost the bet asked: "How did you know it was him?" The other one answered: "He tied his dog by the tail, that's how I knew."

Interviewer (laughing): That's an old one, the only thing that changed...

Jalal Talabani: Here's another one. The president went to visit [Shiite leader] Abd Al-Aziz Al-Hakim. He saw there were many pictures on his walls. He asked: "Who are the people in these pictures?" Al-Hakim said: "The martyrs from Ahl Ahl-Bayt [the Prophet's family, also "landlords"]. So the president asked: "Why, are you renting this place?"

The interviewer laughs

Jalal Talabani: The minister of electricity went to the president and said: "Good news. From now on, there won't be any power outages." "How come?" asked the president. The minister said: "We've decided to move the electric lines underground." The president said: "What?! Where will the poor birds sit?"

Laughter