Foreign Policy got the scoop that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is battling a stomach virus and as a result will not attend Wednesday’s Friends of the Syrian People meeting in Morocco. The FP site is currently down (you’ll see our guess as to exactly why in one second) but the Washington Post, which cites the magazine’s report, makes it sound as though it’s a rather minor health issue we’re talking about here:
Clinton initially delayed the trip from Monday to Tuesday because of her illness. Spokesman Phillippe Reines told Foreign Policy that “she’s still under the weather” and Deputy Secretary Bill Burns will travel to Marrakech in her stead. He will also take on her planned stops in Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
Clinton was expected to use tomorrow’s meeting to recognize the Syrian opposition’s new leadership council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, so the fact she won’t be there is certainly noteworthy. Then again, perhaps not this noteworthy:
Screengrab of The Drudge Report on Tuesday morning
