Rice defends Bolton

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday defended President Bush's nominee for U.N. envoy who is facing intense criticism on Capitol Hill.

"I expect that (the nominee) John (Bolton) is going to be a very good leader of the people who are diplomats at the United States U.N. Mission," she said after a meeting with Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini.

Bolton, the Bush administration's top arms control official, is facing tough questioning by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his past comments about the United Nations and his relations with other State Department officials.

In hearings Tuesday, a former high-ranking intelligence official attacked Bolton as an abusive screamer who attempted to intimidate other State Department officers.

"Well, it's certainly not the John Bolton that I know or that a lot of other people know," Rice said. "John Bolton has been a very effective manager, diplomat."

Despite the criticism, mainly from Democrats, the panel is expected to approve Bolton's nomination.