Former US President Bush extends greetings to Kurdish Leader Masoud Barzani

Shafaq News/ Former president of the United States, George W Bush, extended greetings to Kurdish Leader Masoud Barzani as he met with Kurdistan's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani in Washington earlier today, Wednesday.

"I was honoured to see President Bush during my visit to the United States," Prime Minister Barzani wrote in a post on Facebook. "During our conversation, I thanked him for his personal support to the people of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq; for liberating Iraq from a brutual dictator, and for backing the democratic process in the country."

"I also carried with me the wishes and respects of President [Masoud] Barzani," he said. "President Bush said he prays for the well-being of the peoples of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq."

"He also expressed his warm regards for President Barzani," he concluded.

Under Bush's administration, the US launched a large scale war on Iraq and managed to topple then-President Saddam Hussein's rule. However, the controversial invasion touched off a virulent insurgency and a sectarian civil war that ultimately killed 4,600 American troops and 3,650 contractors, at least 45,000 members of the Iraqi military and police, at least 35,000 insurgents and an estimated 200,000 civilians. Today's Iraq is far freer than it had been, but it remains haunted by corruption, devastation, and shadow war between the United States and Tehran.