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President Bush Meets with President Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional
Government
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary October 29, 2008

President Bush Meets with President Barzani of the Kurdistan Regional
Government Oval Office

˙ /news/releases/2008/10/20081029-3.wm.v.html ˙˙Presidential Remarks
˙˙Audio

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Global Diplomacy

11:37 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: President Barzani, welcome back to the Oval Office. It's
been a while since we have seen each other, but we have talked on the phone
quite frequently -- and the reason why is because you've played a very
instrumental part in the development of a free Iraq. And I thank you for
your leadership and I thank you for your personal friendship.

We had a discussion today on several major topics. We talked about the
progress on the election law and on the hydrocarbon law, but we also talked
about the status of forces agreement, called the SOFA. President Barzani
has been a very strong advocate of the Iraqi government passing the SOFA,
and I appreciate that.

I informed the President we received amendments today from the government.
We're analyzing those amendments. We obviously want to be helpful and
constructive without undermining basic principles. And I remain very
hopeful and confident that the SOFA will get passed. And Mr. President, you
get a lot of credit for your leadership on that issue.

So I'm proud to welcome you back here. Again, I thank you very much for
your courage and your leadership.

PRESIDENT BARZANI: (As translated.) Thank you very much, Mr. President.
It's good that there has been another opportunity for us to visit with you
again. I am here to convey the gratitude of the Iraqi people in general and
the people of Kurdistan, in particular, for the brave decision that you've
made to rid us of this dictatorship.

We are very grateful for all the brave souls, women and men in uniform, who
gave their dear lives in the process. And we are very grateful to the
American people and to you, Mr. President, for this sacrifice.

And despite the fact that there remain some major problems, we have also to
look at all the big achievements that have been made thus far. Let's look
at the elections and the constitution that has been ratified. So these are
major achievements that we are proud of. And we are determined to solve all
the problems that still exist, according to the constitution.

And in terms of SOFA, we do believe that it is in the interest of the Iraqi
government, it's in the interest of this country, and we have been and we
will continue to support it and support its ratification.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.

END 11:41 A.M. EDT

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