The US Senate confirmed Ms Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State today, sweeping aside objections from some Democrats that she should be held accountable for mistakes of the Iraq war.
Ms Rice, President George W. Bush's close confidant and a key architect of the Iraq war as his national security adviser, becomes the first black woman to head US foreign policy.
She was confirmed on a bipartisan 85-13 vote, overriding some Democrats who said she repeatedly deceived Congress and was responsible for decisions they said have mired the United States in a conflict that has hurt efforts to fight terrorism worldwide.
Despite her comfortable margin, Ms Rice drew more opposition than any secretary of state in recent history. The only other recent secretaries of state to draw significant opposition were Mr Henry Kissinger with seven no votes in 1973 and Mr Alexander Haig with six no votes in 1981, according to the Senate Historian.
Mr Colin Powell, her predecessor, was confirmed unanimously.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who strongly backed the war, urged a "resounding vote" for Rice to show "that we're together for what we're pursuing which is a successful conclusion to our involvement in Iraq and to the spread of freedom and democracy throughout the world."
Senator James Jeffords of Vermont, the Senate's only independent, said he cast his first-ever vote against a Cabinet-level nominee and called Ms Rice "severely handicapped in her ability to be America's chief diplomat."
He called her "a lead architect of our nation's failed foreign policy and of the war in Iraq."