from the United States, seeing that the Soviet Union had settled for amicable relations with the new government in Iraq. The United States had shown that it only saw the Kurds as a tool, and had no interest in advancing Kurdish nationalist goals, as Barzani soon realized. The findings of the Pike Commission confirmed this, showing the CIA was only interested in the Kurds to wear down Iraq but had no intention of ever following through with Barzani's ambitions. Barzani lived long enough to see the overthrow of the Shah, the departure of Henry Kissinger following Gerald Ford's defeat in the 1976 U.S. presidential elections, and the death of Algerian President Houari Boumediene, three figures who had affected his movement negatively in their involvement in the Algiers Agreement. Seeking to treat lung cancer, Barzani went to the United States, and died on March 1, 1979, at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., while undergoing treatment. He was buried in Iranian Kurdistan in Oshnavieh after his body was flown back from the United States. In October 1993, Barzani's remains were brought across the border from Iran to Iraqi Kurdistan, to be reburied in his hometown of Barzan. Legacy His son, Massoud Barzani, was the leader of the KDP and was re-elected as the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan region with 66% of the popular vote in July 2009. A grandson, Nechirvan Barzani, the son of Idris Barzani, was the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan. Mustafa Barzani holds a high position among Kurdish nationalists, especially among those in the KDP. Gallery See also Bahdini Masoud Barzani Mahmud Barzani Iraqi Kurdistan Barzani Family Notes References Barzani, Massoud, and Ahmed Ferhadi (2004). Mustafa Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement, 1931–1961. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. . Lawrence, Quil (2008). Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East (1st U.S. ed. ed.). New York: Walker & Co. . McDowall, David (2005). A Modern History of the Kurds (3. revised and upd. ed., repr. ed.). London [u.a.]: Tauris. . External links Britannica Biography More Biographical Information 1903 births 1979 deaths Kurdish revolutionaries Iraqi Kurdistani politicians Iraqi Sunni Muslims People from Barzan People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan politicians Kurdish politicians Frunze Military Academy alumni Deaths from lung cancer in Washington, D.C. Kurdish independence activists