The Bush administration has been repeatedly criticised by its opponents for not admitting mistakes were made in the handling of the occupation of Iraq.

On Wednesday, President George W Bush's nominee for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a rare acknowledgment that some "bad decisions" were made, while defending the overall invasion.

"We didn't have the right skills, the right capacity, to deal with a reconstruction effort of this kind," she told the US Senate Foreign Relations committee.


(BBCNews Jan 20 05)