By Country / Iraq
Rice's Confirmation By U.S. Senate Delayed
January 20, 2005
20 January 2005 -- The confirmation by the U.S. Senate of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, expected to take place today, has been delayed.
Opposition democrats have asked for more time to debate her nomination. The Senate will likely vote sometime next week.
Yesterday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 16-2 to endorse her nomination after two days of questioning. One of the two senators voting no was John Kerry the losing Democratic Party presidential candidate in November.
Rice told the committee the Bush administration had made some mistakes in Iraq. "I would be the first, again, to say we've had to make a lot of decisions -- some of them good, some of them bad," she said. "But I would hope that what we will do now is to focus on where we go from here."
She also said U.S. forces were not ready for stabilizing the country.
If confirmed, Rice would replace Colin Powell who yesterday bid farewell to employees at the State Department. Rice would be the first black woman to hold the post.
(AP/Reuters)