When Condi said that we'd made tactical mistakes, but that the strategy of getting rid of Saddam was the right one, and would be judged as so, I believe that many observers missed an obvious point.
Prior to the war, there was general consensus that Saddam was a bad guy, and that the world would be better off without him running Iraq. There wasn't much serious argument on that point.
The contentious issue was what, tactically, the right approach to confronting Saddam might be. The US was for overthrowing the Baathist regime with military force, as a tactic.
That's important, I think. The idea of waging war to get rid of Saddam isn't, and wasn't, a strategy. It was a tactic.
When Ms. Rice says that we've made tactical mistakes, but that our overall strategy will be judged by history as correct, she's misleading listeners, and we're letting her. We're granting the premise that the war was strategic - it wasn't. It was one of several tactics to achive a strategic goal, and it was probably the biggest tactical blunder imagineable.