Amid protests, Rice acknowledges U.S. errors in Iraq

By Gideon Long and Sue Pleming

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday the United States had probably made thousands of errors in Iraq but defended the overall strategy of removing Saddam Hussein.

Speaking in northern England where she was a guest of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Rice also told Iran it had to make a choice -- either find an acceptable way to develop nuclear energy or face diplomatic isolation.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivers the inaugural Chatham House lecture at the Ewood Park stadium in Blackburn, northern England, March 31, 2006. Rice said on Friday the United States had probably made thousands of errors in Iraq but defended the overall strategy of removing Saddam Hussein. (REUTERS/Phil Noble)

As she toured Straw's home town of Blackburn and the nearby city of Liverpool, Rice was greeted by hundreds of protesters, angry at U.S. foreign policy.

Some 250 protesters, many of them local Muslims, gathered outside a school she visited in Blackburn while around 1,500 anti-war activists waited for her at a theatre in Liverpool where she attended an evening concert.

They waved placards and banners, shouted slogans and urged the secretary of state to "Go home!".

"The Muslim population is very angry. She's not welcome in Blackburn," said Suliman, one of the demonstrators outside Pleckgate school.

"How many lives per gallon?" asked one of the placards held aloft, in reference to the U.S. invasion of oil-rich Iraq which many Britons opposed.

Rice is in the region on a reciprocal trip following Straw's visit to her home state of Alabama in October.

Her stay has been heavy on photo opportunities and light on substance, although she did make one foreign policy speech in the incongruous setting of Blackburn Rovers' soccer stadium.

"Yes, I know we have made tactical errors, thousands of them," she said in answer to a question over whether lessons had been learnt since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

"I believe strongly that it was the right strategic decision, that Saddam had been a threat to the international community long enough," she added.

SANCTIONS AN OPTION

On Iran, subject of her discussions in Berlin earlier this week, she said the country had a choice.

"(It must) accept a way to the development of civil nuclear power ... or face deeper isolation," said Rice.

She also said she supported Straw's view that sanctions should be considered against Iran if it did not comply with calls to curb its nuclear ambitions.

Everywhere she went, Rice was asked about the protests against her visit, but responded by saying everyone was free to vent their frustration.

"Each individual all over the world has the God-given right to express themselves. I'm not just going to visit places where people agree with me."

Dissent followed her into the concert hall in Liverpool where one of the artists dedicated her performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" to the protesters standing outside in the rain.

"All we are saying is give peace a chance," sang local-born Jennifer John, splicing the lines of one of Lennon's most famous peace ballads into the other.

Rice, a Beatles fan and accomplished pianist, also went to a performing arts centre founded by former Beatle Paul McCartney, where she listened to a Gospel choir.

On Saturday she is due to return to Blackburn to meet members of the Muslim community who make up around 20 percent of the town's population.

She had been due to visit a mosque in the former cotton town until its governors withdrew their invitation out of fear the trip would be hijacked by demonstrators.

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