General

Egyptian protestors pelt Clinton’s motorcade with tomatoes

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s motorcade was the target of shoes and tomatoes during her visit to Egypt. The State Department denied that any of the projectiles struck Clinton or her car. At least one Egyptian official was struck in the face by a ripe tomato.

Clinton was in Egypt to meet with the new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Protesters chanted: “Monica, Monica,” presumably in reference to former President Bill Clinton’s infamous intern in the 1990s. Protesters also yelled “leave, Clinton.”

In 2009, Secretary Clinton told ABC News “I really consider President and Mrs. Mubarak to be friends of my family. So I hope to see him often here in Egypt and in the United States.”

In her visit this weekend, Secretary Clinton had this to say about the US role in Egypt going forward: “I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which of course we cannot.”

The United States send about $1.3 billion in aid to Egypt, much of it in the form of military support. Before Egypt’s recent Presidential election, the Egyptian military moved to curtail much of the civilian government’s putative powers.

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