US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the Iraq invasion again as she faced a second day of anti-war protests on her visit to the north west of England.
While mistakes had been made, "the birth of democracy is sometimes difficult", she told the BBC ahead of a meeting with Muslim leaders in Blackburn.
Dr Rice - who is in the area as the guest of British Foreign Secretary and local MP Jack Straw - also insisted suspects at Guantanamo Bay were being treated within the law.
And she said Washington was "bending every muscle" to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The second day of her tour will see the Secretary of State and Mr Straw meet Muslim leaders and other dignitaries at the Town Hall after a visit to Blackburn cathedral.
The Stop the War Coalition said it hoped thousands of people would join a march to the town hall against US foreign policy.
A planned trip to a local mosque was cancelled earlier this week because of safety fears and there were large demonstrations on Friday night when she attended a concert.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said of Iraq: "Of course there have been mistakes. But it was not a mistake to overthrow Saddam Hussein; it was not a mistake to unleash the forces of democracy in the Middle East.
"It's not at gunpoint that democracy is taking place in Iraq - at gun point Saddam Hussein was taken out of power but Iraqis did not go to the polls at gunpoint. The birth of democracy is sometimes difficult."
Mr Straw backed her analysis, adding: "Not everything worked out afterwards as anticipated but I am absolutely clear that without that military action you would never have been able to unleash the forces of democracy not only in Iraq but…across the Middle East."