Clinton Defends Rice as 'Stalwart' UN Ambassador Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is defending U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice as a "stalwart colleague." Speaking Thursday in Dublin, Clinton said Rice has done a "great job" at the U.N. and that criticism of her initial explanation of the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya is unfair. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gestures as she gives a speech: "Frontlines and Frontiers: Making Human Rights a Human Reality," Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, at Dublin City University in Dublin, Ireland. (AP Photo/Kevin Lamarque, Pool) Close Rice is a potential candidate to succeed Clinton as secretary of state but Republicans have questioned her qualifications. They have taken Rice to task for saying the attack was triggered by a protest against an anti-Islam film. Those comments were in talking points provided by the intelligence community, which now says that guidance was incorrect. Clinton said Rice shouldn't be criticized for repeating information that later turned out to be wrong.