BAGHDAD: An embarrassing slip of the tongue by former US president George W. Bush may have drawn laughter from his American audience, but it raised the ire of Iraqis.

In a speech Wednesday evening in Dallas about Russia’s war on Ukraine, Bush called the invasion of Iraq, which he himself ordered, “unjustified and brutal” — before quickly correcting himself.

The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and ushered in one of the bloodiest periods in the country’s modern history, marked by sectarian warfare and the rise of jihadists.

Between 2003 and 2011, when the US withdrew its troops, more than 100,000 civilians were killed, according to the Iraq Body Count tracker. The invasion cost the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans. But on Wednesday it was the war in Ukraine that Bush talked about during an event organised by his foundation.

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“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine,” he said in a speech, drawing laughter from the audience.