Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has erroneously referred to Hizbullah instead of Syria when he talked about U.S. and French help to Lebanon during his debate with Republican Sarah Palin.

"When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hizbullah out of Lebanon, I said, and (Democratic presidential candidate) Barack (Obama) said, 'Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't know — if you don't, Hizbullah will control it,'" Biden said Thursday.

"Now what's happened? Hizbullah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel," he said.

He called the policy of the Bush administration "an abject failure."

"And speaking of freedom being on the march, the only thing on the march is Iran. It's closer to a bomb. Its proxies now have a major stake in Lebanon, as well as in the Gaza Strip with Hamas," Biden said.