Condoleezza Rice, designated by US President George W. Bush to be the next secretary of state, officially won the confirmation of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

The vote result of the 18 members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was 16-2 as Democratic senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer voted against Rice's nomination.

The vote was held after more than two hours of hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, the second day of Rice's confirmation hearing.

The confirmation hearing started on Tuesday when Rice faced questions from both Republicans and Democrats on issues such as Iraq, the war on terrorism, the Middle East and the nuclear programs of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

A full US Senate is expected to confirm Rice on Thursday, just hours before President Bush's swearing-in ceremony.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Rice admitted that there were some bad decisions by the Bush administration concerning Iraq.

"We have made a lot of decisions in this period of time. Some of them have been good, some of them have not been good, some of them have been bad decisions, I am sure," Rice said.

As to the Iraq reconstruction after the war, she said: "We didn't have the right skills, the right capacity, to deal with a reconstruction effort of this kind."

The acknowledgement followed sharp questions and rebukes from Democrats who complained that the Bush administration was unwilling to admit and learn from its mistakes on the Iraq war andits reconstruction.

During Tuesday's hearing which lasted more than nine hours, Rice elaborated her foreign policy goals and said she was committed to the mission set by President Bush to spread freedom and democracy around the world.

Rice also pledged to improve ties with some old allies whose ties with the United States were strained by the Iraq war.

Rice has been Bush's national security adviser for the past four years and has been a main architect of the foreign policies of the Bush administration.