WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (AFP) - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Wednesday the confirmation of outgoing national security adviser Condoleezza Rice as US secretary of state.
The panel voted 16-2 to clear the nomination of Rice, one of President George W. Bush`s closest aides, to replace Colin Powell as chief US diplomat. Only Democratic senators John Kerry and Barabra Boxer voted no.
The full Senate was expected to confirm her in the post Thursday.
Wednesday`s committee vote came after Rice, 50, underwent 11 hours of questioning over two days on a range of foreign policy issues, particulary the administration`s conduct of the war on terror and its invasion of Iraq.
She staunchly defended the Iraq war against Democratic charges it was undertaken under false pretenses and badly managed but acknowledged earlier Wednesday that some "bad decisions" were made and US forces were unprepared for the tough task of post-war reconstruction.
Rice`s overall message to the committee was to pledge a revival of US diplomacy after two wars in Bush`s first four years of office. But she signaled that Washington would not hesitate to go it alone if necessary to protect US security interests.
01/19/2005 16:43 GMT - AFP