Washington Vilified On Both Sides Of Egypt's Divide

Maggie Fick and Tom Finn
Reuters
12:46 p.m. CDT, July 10, 2013

CAIRO (Reuters) - Pictures of Barack Obama have popped up all over Cairo. Some have his faced crossed out in paint. Heavy black beards are daubed onto others.

No matter which side you talk to in Egypt, where people have been polarized by a violent political crisis, the U.S. president is cast as the villain.

Islamists who support Mohamed Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected president, who was overthrown by the military a week ago, are angry at the United States because they believe it allowed, and even plotted, what they call a military coup.

The fact that Washington declines to call it that has merely reinforced suspicion among Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Many non-Islamists glad to see the back of Mursi are also upset. They believe the United States has cozied up to the Brotherhood since it was elected into office, turning U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson into a hate figure for many.

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