Egyptian People

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's top aide, William Daley, signaled in an interview Sunday that the U.S. did not want to steer events in Egypt but, rather, hoped the Egyptian people would come up with a solution to the standoff between President Hosni Mubarak and protesters who want him ousted. Daley, in his first interview since he was named White House chief of staff on Jan. 6, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the White House supported "basic human rights of the people of Egypt. " Obama has urged his Egyptian counterpart that the government needs to show "restraint" toward protesters massed on city streets demanding Mubarak's ouster, Daley said.

CAIRO - President Mohamed Morsi apparently secured a victory at the polls Saturday for a new Egyptian constitution, locking the country into a bitter contest between his ascendant Islamist camp and his secular opponents. Morsi managed to push the controversial document through after a political crisis brought on by his declaration a month ago giving himself wide-ranging emergency powers. Although Morsi rolled back much of that decree - amid massive protests and street clashes - he insisted on bringing the new constitution to a referendum.

President Obama on Friday issued a stern warning to Egypt's president to deliver on a pledge to forge a more open democracy in the Arab nation, saying: "Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. " In a hastily arranged statement delivered from the White House State Dining Room, Obama urged Egyptian authorities to refrain from violence against their citizens, and for protesters to express themselves peacefully. "Going forward, this moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise," he said.

CAIRO - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met for the first time Saturday with new President Mohamed Morsi in a fresh push to strengthen U.S.-Egyptian relations as the country enters an era of unpredictability in which an Islamist leader is clashing with a secular military over control of the nation. Clinton's talks with Morsi signaled a historic shift from the days when U.S. diplomats visited President Hosni Mubarak, a stalwart American partner on countering terrorism and preserving Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

Officials have called the protesters seeking President Hosni Mubarak's resignation many things: thugs, foreigners, paid troublemakers. But what made Rehab Salah curious were reports on state television that the demonstrators were sitting in Tahrir Square eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. On Sunday, the bank employee made a 45-minute trek on the city's metro to see for herself. She saw old women and young boys on the square selling cheese and date pastries, men gathered around a blanket sharing pita bread and older men sipping hot tea. But no "Kentucky meals," as they're widely known in Egypt.

Half a century ago, I was part of a human flood surging through the streets of Cairo. It was March 1954, and we had poured out of the university gates intending to cross the bridge of Qasr el Nil and meet up with other protesters for a massive demonstration outside the official presidential palace in Abdin Square. The Egyptian people had recently emerged from the rule of King Farouk, who had been ousted in a military coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1952. The coup was initially met with support and hope, but that quickly dissipated as the Egyptian people watched the new leadership veer toward repression.

Every lover of liberty will share in the exhilaration of the Egyptian people after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. A revolt by students, young professionals and workers ousted a dictator who had ruled his country in the guise of a democrat for 30 years. It may be that intervention by the military was the immediate cause of Mubarak's dramatic turnabout the day after he refused to step down, but there's no question that the primary authors of his overthrow were the Egyptian people.

President Obama said he telephoned Hosni Mubarak today to tell the Egyptian President that "an orderly transition must be meaningful, must be peaceful and it must begin now. " Obama said he called Mubarak after the Egyptian president delivered a defiant televised message in which he promised he would not seek reelection but vowed to remain in office to oversee a peaceful transfer of power. In a televised address of his own, Obama said he told Mubarak that change must take place immediately.

In an interview with Bill O'Reilly, President Obama said Sunday that he's confident a new Egyptian government would continue to be a partner of the United States, and he again called on President Hosni Mubarak to allow for an orderly transition to a new representative government. "Egypt is not going to go back to what it was," Obama said during the interview on Fox's Super Bowl pregame telecast. "The Egyptian people want freedom, they want free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government.

The Obama administration appears to be now preparing for an Egypt without President Hosni Mubarak, pushing the hard-line 82-year-old leader to swiftly meet the cry from the streets for greater political freedom while growing ever-more doubtful that their longtime ally can survive the upheaval. The administration is not yet ready to abandon Mubarak ? at least in public. Officials continue to strike a cautious tone in their statements, fearing that openly supporting calls for Mubarak's removal would alarm other U.S. allies in the region.

Last week's protests in Cairo and Monday's parliamentary elections represent two faces of post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt, one hopeful and one pessimistic. So far, notwithstanding a huge election turnout, pessimism seems the more realistic attitude. Despite superficial concessions, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces seems determined to exercise power even after a new president and parliament are installed. That explains the protests last week in which demonstrators called on the military to relinquish power sooner rather than later.

They came by the tens of thousands, swelling through neighborhoods, marching over bridges and pouring into Tahrir Square on Friday in the biggest protest yet against Egypt's increasingly isolated military rulers. Workers, mothers, activists, students and doctors, their numbers multiplying into nightfall, rallied in spirit and defiance reminiscent of the chilly February days that marked the end of Hosni Mubarak's regime. Dubbed "Last Chance Friday," the demonstration had the hardened determination of a battle and the air of a carnival.

Now, Egypt's future Re " 'Hope for the future,' " Feb. 12 What is the future for the Egyptian people? I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin's response to the woman who asked him as he emerged from the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, "What do we have?" He replied: "A republic, madam, if we can keep it. " That will now be the challenge for the Egyptian people. America has survived many challenges, wars and even a civil war. The democracy we cherish can get pretty messy at times, yet the Star Spangled Banner still waves, the hope lives on and the dream has never died.

The news was only a couple of hours old and already the art of the revolution was being replaced with the art of the resignation. For a week on the edge of Tahrir Square, the fledgling League of the Revolution's Artists had churned out drawings and caricatures, poems and plays inspired by Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of autocratic rule. A selection of the works were plastered on the outdoor glass wall of a KFC restaurant outside which they had set up base. President Hosni Mubarak stealing money.

A new day in Egypt Re Hosni Mubarak's resignation, Feb. 12 As a lifelong admirer and student of Egypt, it is a wonderful thing to see Egyptians' determination and success in ridding themselves of a dictator. But the future will be even more difficult. Making a democracy work is harder than opposing a dictator. It will be messy, frustrating and require compromise and hard work ? and there will be no one to blame anymore but the people themselves. Egypt's friends can only advise, support and encourage.

Every lover of liberty will share in the exhilaration of the Egyptian people after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. A revolt by students, young professionals and workers ousted a dictator who had ruled his country in the guise of a democrat for 30 years. It may be that intervention by the military was the immediate cause of Mubarak's dramatic turnabout the day after he refused to step down, but there's no question that the primary authors of his overthrow were the Egyptian people.

President Obama on Friday stopped short of urging President Hosni Mubarak to step down from power but made it clear that suppression and violence would not be effective in dealing with Egypt's ongoing protests. "In light of what's happened, going back to the old ways is not going to work," Obama said at a televised news conference. "Suppression is not going to work, violence is not going to work. "The only thing that is going to work is moving to an orderly transition process, right now," the president said, adding that change must also be responsive to the grievances of people.

CAIRO - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met for the first time Saturday with new President Mohamed Morsi in a fresh push to strengthen U.S.-Egyptian relations as the country enters an era of unpredictability in which an Islamist leader is clashing with a secular military over control of the nation. Clinton's talks with Morsi signaled a historic shift from the days when U.S. diplomats visited President Hosni Mubarak, a stalwart American partner on countering terrorism and preserving Egypt's peace treaty with Israel.

In an interview with Bill O'Reilly, President Obama said Sunday that he's confident a new Egyptian government would continue to be a partner of the United States, and he again called on President Hosni Mubarak to allow for an orderly transition to a new representative government. "Egypt is not going to go back to what it was," Obama said during the interview on Fox's Super Bowl pregame telecast. "The Egyptian people want freedom, they want free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government.

Officials have called the protesters seeking President Hosni Mubarak's resignation many things: thugs, foreigners, paid troublemakers. But what made Rehab Salah curious were reports on state television that the demonstrators were sitting in Tahrir Square eating Kentucky Fried Chicken. On Sunday, the bank employee made a 45-minute trek on the city's metro to see for herself. She saw old women and young boys on the square selling cheese and date pastries, men gathered around a blanket sharing pita bread and older men sipping hot tea. But no "Kentucky meals," as they're widely known in Egypt.