Hillary Clinton talks, walks in Cairo

CAIRO -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into crowds yesterday at the symbolic heart of the uprising that toppled Egypt's longtime autocratic leader, urging the country's temporary leaders not to allow the revolution to fizzle or be compromised by extremists.

Clinton heaped praise on the anti-government demonstrators whose peaceful protests in the central Tahrir Square ousted President Hosni Mubarak and said she hoped people everywhere would look back on the revolt and regard it as "one of the most important historic turning points" in the Middle East.

"The pyramids are magnificent but nowhere near as magnificent as what you have already done," she told American and local Egyptian employees at the U.S. Embassy.

She called on them to help protect the achievement so that "no one is permitted to hijack this revolution, no one is permitted to turn the clock back on this revolution, no one is permitted to claim it for only one group of Egyptians and exclude other Egyptians."

Surrounded by a heavy contingent of U.S. and Egyptian security guards, Clinton took an unscheduled 15-minute stroll through the square, waving and shaking hands with bystanders who thronged her. Many thanked her for visiting the heart of the anti-government demonstrations while others fought for a glimpse or a photo of the highest-level U.S. official to visit Egypt since Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11.

"It's just a great reminder of the power of the human spirit and universal desire for freedom and human rights and democracy," Clinton told reporters as she navigated the square. "It's just thrilling to see where this happened."

Earlier, Clinton said she does not want to stay in her job if President Barack Obama wins a second term in 2012. She also firmly said she neither has plans to mount another White House bid nor interest in other posts, such as vice president or defense secretary.

Clinton's two-day visit to Egypt is aimed at encouraging the Egyptian people and their transitional leaders to hold true to the ideals of democratic reforms that propelled the revolution. Her trip underscores U.S. concern that gains made since Mubarak's ouster may be lost to impatience or to the rise of an extremist or authoritarian new leadership.

And it comes as the Obama administration sharpens its criticism of Bahrain and its Persian Gulf neighbors, with Clinton saying they are on the "wrong track" by trying to quell unrest with troops instead of democratic reforms.