President George W. Bush has finally admitted that he made a mistake in his Iraqi misadventure. But it's only what he said, not what he did.

Asked what "missteps and mistakes" he regretted about the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Bush replied that his biggest regret was his use of cowboy language such as "bring it on" at the start of the war in 2003 and in saying he wanted terrorist leader Osama bin Laden "dead or alive."

Bush told reporters that it was this "kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people."

"I learned some lessons about expressing myself in a little more sophisticated manner," he added.

If only the fault was simply his empty rhetoric. The acknowledgement of any mistake was a headline story for Bush, even though it was a slim mea culpa by a very defensive president.

Bush made the admission in a recent news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The visitor was more substantive in his response to the same question when he confessed that the coalition had erred by disbanding Saddam Hussein's governing party, leaving a vacuum in Iraqi government expertise and leadership. Blair also said he and Bush underestimated the strength of the insurgency.

"It's easy to go back over mistakes that we may have made," Blair said. "But the biggest reason why Iraq has been difficult is the determination of our opponents to defeat us. And I don't think we should be surprised at that."

How profound of Blair to realize that Iraqis might have a sense of national pride and are inspired to fight and die against an invader and occupier.

If the answers from the two men are good indications of their own self-awareness and ability to engage reality, one wonders what planet they are on. I doubt that either leader has the remorse or courage to admit he was wrong to attack an oil-rich third-world country under false pretenses.

It's amazing to reflect on the fact that we are in Iraq because of a mistake -- and three years later can't seem to get out. One reason we can't get out is that our leaders don't want the families of the 2,460 Americans killed in the war to feel that their loved ones died in vain. Unfortunately, this is a tragic self-perpetuating dynamic.

Bush and Blair do not want to look back on their real miscalculations. Instead, Bush wants us to believe that the U.S. is in Iraq for the long haul, until total victory is achieved against the insurgents and terrorists. Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan used to daily trumpet a boast that we were "going to win" in Iraq.

Bush also said the American military's biggest mistake was the treatment of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the notorious prison near Baghdad where inmates were subject to degrading treatment.

"We've been paying for that for a long period of time," Bush said.

Actually, mostly low-ranking soldiers have paid the price in prison time for those misdeeds, not their commanding officers or top Bush administration officials who signed off on tough treatment for the detainees.

Meantime, more scandals pile on as the occupation continues. Bush says he was "bothered" by the allegations that a group of Marines may have killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including a 3-year-old girl, last November in Haditha to avenge the death of a buddy.

The incident brought back memories of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a one-time hawk on military matters who served in the Marine Corps, said the troops overreacted at Haditha "because of pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Murtha stunned Congress several months ago when he called for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The troops are being given a refresher course on the rules of war. Maybe Bush and Blair should bone up on international laws against starting wars in the first place.

(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com).

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