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Secretary Clinton: Visiting Cairo's Tahrir Square Is 'Exciting And Very Moving'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (in red) shook hands with a child as she visited Cairo's Tahrir Square earlier today (March 16, 2011).
Paul J. Richards
/
AFP/Getty Images
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (in red) shook hands with a child as she visited Cairo's Tahrir Square earlier today (March 16, 2011).

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Cairo's Tahrir Square earlier today and marveled at being in the place where protesters last month gathered in what became a successful effort to topple the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"It's very exciting and very moving," Clinton said, as you can hear in the following audio report from NPR's Michele Kelemen. "And to see where this revolution happened and all that it has meant to the world is extraordinary for me."

The Associated Press adds that "surrounded by a heavy contingent of U.S. and Egyptian security guards, Clinton smiled, waved and shook hands with the Egyptian citizens who thronged her during her unscheduled 15-minute stroll through the square."

"Clinton's two-day visit to Egypt," the AP notes, "is aimed at encouraging the Egyptian people and their transitional leaders to hold true to the ideals of democratic reforms that propelled the revolution."

Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, who is on assignment in Egypt, posted this note on his Twitter page just a short time ago:

"Expecting to tape w/ Hillary Clinton in a couple hrs here in Cairo for Thu @MorningEdition. What would you ask?"

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.