Asked if Egypt was a bad location for such an important speech given its poor human rights record, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: “It is a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world.
“The scope of the speech, the desire for the president to speak (to the Muslim world), is bigger than where the speech was going to be given or who’s the leadership of the country where the speech is going to be given,”....
“This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world. The president has high hopes for a stronger relationship,” Gibbs said.
“All of this gives the president the opportunity hopefully to extend the hand to those that in many ways are like us but simply have a different religion.”
Gibbs said that during the overseas trip, Obama would also travel to the German city of Dresden and the Buchenwald concentration camp complex, which was set up by the Nazis during World War Two. Obama’s great uncle liberated one of the camps at Buchenwald.
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE54754920090508