'I'M NOT A UNILATERALIST'

No. Look, he has, I think, done terrific things in this job. I'm very proud to be associated with him, very proud of having helped him.

Do you think that what's going on in Lebanon and the recent vote in Iraq are vindications of your policies in Iraq?

I know people use that word a lot and I wouldn't. I think we still have a lot more work to do, and if people want to talk about vindication, they should wait awhile. But I think that I have believed and continue to believe that the desire of people to be free and to choose their own leaders is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It's not utopian. I think it's realistic to figure out how to mobilize that force on our side because we are the natural allies of people with those goals.

Do you take responsibility for any mistakes made in planning for the war in Iraq, and what do you see as the key mistakes? Dissolving the Army?

There's so much finger-pointing that goes on. It's a long exercise to dissect all the things that are wrong [in what has been] said about why this has proven to be difficult. And the notion that there was no planning is simply wrong.

You mean that there was planning for the aftermath?