Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met in Washington with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish regional government to reinforce U.S. support for Iraq's territorial integrity, the State Department said. Armitage spoke with Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday "to discuss Iraq's political transition, the current security situation, regional issues, and our shared objective of a federal, democratic, unified, and prosperous Iraq," the department said in a statement late Wednesday. Armitage "expressed appreciation for Iraqi Kurdish leadership in the effort to rebuild Iraq and reaffirmed U.S. support for the upcoming elections and ongoing reconstruction efforts," the statement said.
