In an interview with The Washington Post published Tuesday, Rice defended the controversial foreign policy stands she and her boss, President George Bush, have taken on everything from Iraq to Israel's invasion of Gaza, saying they will be seen as wise decisions 25 or 30 years from now.

"If you get very focused on whether someone thinks your policies are popular, you won't do the right thing," she said.

Rice said if Iraq eventually emerges as a democratic state with strong ties with the United States, "that will be more important than what anybody thought in 2002 or 2003."

On her decision to abstain last week from voting on a U.N. Security Council resolution urging a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, she said it was "not an easy decision but a right one."

Bush instructed her to abstain after she had worked on crafting the resolution, about which she told The Post, "I have a relationship in which we can discuss these things and come to the best decision."