Says US to support Egypt democracy even through Islamists
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participated in an online discussion with young Egyptians who spearheaded the rebellion that caused the stepping down of President Hosni Mubarak, a major recipient of U.S. aid during the past three decades.
Clinton answered questions from Egyptian young people in the interview meant to show U.S. support for the country's pro-democracy movement.
But the difficulties of promoting America among the Arabs were underscored in Clinton's appearance on Egypt's www.Masrawy.com, a website designed mainly for young Egyptians.
Masrawy attracts nearly 600,000 visitors each day, mostly Egyptians and many below age 35.
Many young people in Egypt have a low opinion of the United States after its decades of support for the autocratic ruler Mubarak.
In a 30-minute, mostly Arabic-language question and answer session, Clinton was peppered with questions from skeptical youth about America's long and close partnership with Mubarak despite the repressive nature of his government.
She was asked why the United States did not seem to support Mubarak's opponents until they had won and if the United States would support real democracy in Egypt even if Islamic parties took power.
"Proud of Egyptian young people"
You have set such an extraordinary example of nonviolent, peaceful protest. We will stand with you. We want to be your partners. We are inspired by you, and we believe in you and the United States is ready to assist in any way that would be appropriate 
Clinton said again and again that although Mubarak was a U.S. ally, successive American presidents had continuously, although unsuccessfully, pressed him to reform and criticized his regime's abuses.
"The United States has relations with many countries whose values we do not always agree with and whose actions we often criticize," she said. "But we do have relationships with China, with Russia, with Egypt in the past that are very complicated and which operate on several levels at once."
She stressed repeatedly that the United States supported the aspirations of the Egyptian people and hailed their nonviolent protest as an inspiration to the world. She also repeatedly offered U.S. assistance.
"I am very proud of what Egyptian young people have done," she said. "You have set such an extraordinary example of nonviolent, peaceful protest. We will stand with you. We want to be your partners. We are inspired by you, and we believe in you and the United States is ready to assist in any way that would be appropriate."
At the same time, she warned that democracy was not easy and that they should be patient but persevere through difficulties ahead.
"I hope you will understand that having brought down a regime and having made it clear you will settle for nothing other than democracy, that you understand it's going to take commitment and determination to translate the energy and the spirit of Tahrir Square into the day-to-day work of building a democracy. ... I have no doubt in my mind that this can be done as long as people do not get exhausted, frustrated, give up too soon, because the process is sometimes very hard to deal with."
Another theme Clinton returned to was the peaceful nature of the protests, which said repudiated the message of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups.
"Al-Qaeda's position is there is no such thing as peaceful protest; there is no such thing as democracy," she said. "Well, I hope they were watching on television as Egyptian young people proved them wrong on both of those points."
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