Clinton fields online questions and criticism from young Egyptians

During the tense days of the Egyptian uprising, U.S. officialstelephoned that country's aging generals and politicians to urgecalm. On Wednesday, America's top diplomat reached out to the youthwho toppled the regime, offering to answer their questions on theirfavorite medium: the Internet.

More than 6,500 people responded, in a cascade of messages fromFacebook, Twitter and other social media.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had time to answer onlya tiny fraction of the questions submitted through the Egyptian Website Masrawy.com. They revealed both Egyptians' newfound sense offreedom and their enduring skepticism of U.S. foreign policy,including Washington's relations with their former ruler.

"Does America really support democracy? If yes indeed, why theU.S. was late in its support for the Egyptian revolution?" demandedMohamed, a young Egyptian, in a video aired for Clinton.

Another questioner, identified as Mahmod, submitted a video ofhimself in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the uprising againstthen-President Hosni Mubarak.

"The attitude of the U.S. during the Egyptian revolution was tosupport the Egyptian regime first. Then, when the revolution turnedsuccessful, the U.S. switched sides and supported the Egyptianyouth. . . . Why?" asked Mahmod, according to a translation forClinton.

In her answers to those and otherquestions, Clinton largely stuck to her positions ofrecent weeks: that the Obama administration had advocated democraticreforms and had warned publicly and privately against the use ofviolence during the protests.

"We support democracy in Egypt," she said.

She defended the long U.S. relationship with Mubarak, saying hehad cooperated in maintaining peace with Israel, "which I thinksaved lives."

Clinton's Internet dialogue reflected how important the mediumhas become for U.S. foreign policy - especially after therevolutions that have swept the Arab world, fueled by messages andvideos on social-media sites.

Barely two years ago, Clinton confessed that she didn't "know aTwitter from a tweeter." But these days, the State Department tweetsin Farsi and Arabic, and Clinton gives speeches on Internet freedom.

She said the purpose of Wednesday's dialogue was "to hear fromthousands of Egyptians about what is on your minds, what you arehoping to have happen now that this incredibly inspiringextraordinary moment in history has occurred."

She said the U.S. government had consistently pushed Mubarak overthe years to allow democratic reforms. "We gave grants that the[Mubarak] government did not like to support union organizing, tosupport organizing on behalf of political opposition to the regime,"she said.

In fact, the Obama administration in 2009 essentially allowed theMubarak government to decide which civil-society groups wouldreceive democracy assistance from the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, a move roundly criticized by pro-democracy groups.

While standing up for U.S. policy toward Egypt, Clintonacknowledged that the United States is going to have to pay moreattention to the power of grass-roots movements.

"This is a new world we're all in together. . . . All of us aregoing to have to get used to a different kind of politicalrelationship," she said.

sheridanm@washpost.com