US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted today that the US has made thousands of tactical errors in Iraq but insisted that it was correct to remove Saddam Hussein.
On the opening day of her controversial visit to the north-west of England as guest of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, she insisted that the US remain committed to justice and the rule of law but had no desire to be "the world's jailer".
But in a keynote speech, delivered at Ewood Park, home of Mr Straw's beloved Blackburn Rovers, she warned that the Bush administration would be judged "harshly" at home if it released detainees who went on to commit terrorist atrocities.
A relaxed-looking Ms Rice shrugged of the attentions of anti-war demonstrators who dogged her visit with a series of noisy but generally well-ordered protests.
"People have a right to protest," she told reporters during her first stop of the day at the BAE Systems aircraft factory at Samlesbury.
"That is what democracy is all about and I am delighted that in more and more of the world, these rights to speak your mind are being extended to other people for whom that right has not been there. "I have no problem with people exercising their democratic rights."
However, while she acknowledged that the US may have made "thousands" of "tactical errors" in Iraq, she also mounted a tough defence of Washington's war on terrorism.
In an apparent reference to the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, she insisted that the US remained committed to the rule of law.
"We do not tolerate either at home or abroad engagement in acts of torture. We also have no desire to be the world's jailer. We want the terrorists that have been captured to stand trial for their crimes," she said in her Ewood Park speech to the Chatham House Foreign Affairs think tank.
"But we also recognise that we are fighting a cunning enemy and our citizens will judge us harshly if we release a captured terrorist before we are absolutely certain that he does no possess information that could prevent a further attack or, even worse, commits terrorism again."
And she signalled that the United States would not pull out its troops from Iraq in the face of continuing attacks by insurgents opposed to the American-led coalition.
"I think it would be wrong somehow to leave Iraq to the mercy of the Zarqawis of the world or former Baathists who really do want to unravel the political process," she said.
Mr Straw also strongly defended the invasion of Iraq, but at the same time emphasised the importance of respecting human rights in the fight against terrorism.
"If we are to persuade others to subscribe to these values then our own commitment to them must be consistent," he said.
"That includes having the courage of our convictions when there are difficult decision to be made.
"When we face determined and terrible threats to our national security, our response needs to be proportionate and in line with our commitment under international law, including international human rights law."
Mr Straw had invited Ms Rice to his Blackburn constituency and to nearby Liverpool for a weekend of diplomatic bonding following a visit he made to her home town of Birmingham, Alabama last year.