US President George W. Bush arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit on Sunday, acknowledging the war has been hard.
"The work hasn't been easy but it's been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace," he reportedly said during the meeting with his Iraqi counterpart President Jalal Talabani, according to a statement by President Talabani's office.
President Talabani said President Bush was "a great friend" of the Iraqi people.
They discussed how to push forward bilateral relations.
This was President Bush's fourth visit in Baghdad and very likely the last before he leaves office in January.
The United States has spent over 600 billion dollars on the war and lost more than 4,200 soldiers.
The unpopular war has badly eroded President Bush's approval ratings.
In an interview with the ABC TV station early this month, President Bush acknowledged that the "biggest regret" of his Presidency was the intelligence failure in Iraq.
The United States waged the war on the grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which have not been found.
President Bush is scheduled to sign a security agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, which stipulates that the US troops would pull out of cities and towns in the first half of 2009 and leave Iraq by the end of 2011.