President Obama addressed audiences worldwide Friday and said that Egypt “will never be the same,” after the country’s government announced that 30-year ruler Hosni Mubarak had stepped down.
“The people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard,” Obama said.
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(FOX NEWS)–President Obama, after a false start the day before, plans to make a statement Friday about the developments in Egypt following an announcement from the country’s vice president that Hosni Mubarak is stepping down after 29 years in power.
The president was informed of Mubarak’s decision during a meeting in the Oval Office Friday morning. He then watched television coverage of the crowd’s reaction in Cairo for several minutes.
Amid outstanding questions about what comes next for the Egyptian government, which has been aligned with the United States for decades, Obama plans to speak about the developments in Washington Friday afternoon.
“This is a pivotal moment in history,” Vice President Biden said Friday.
The upcoming remarks will give the president an opportunity to send a clear message to Egypt, and the American people, after a day of confusion in both Cairo and Washington.
The White House was taken by surprise Thursday when, despite reports and claims that Mubarak would resign, he delivered a rambling address in which he handed power to Vice President Omar Suleiman but vowed to stay in office through the fall elections.
Obama initially said the world was watching “history unfold” — but after Mubarak stopped short of resigning, the White House issued a statement calling on Cairo to better explain what changes were being made.
“It is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient,” Obama said in a written statement Thursday night.
Senior administration officials later said that the White House and State Department were leaning on Suleiman to clear things up. Aides said they “had a certain expectation” about what Mubarak was going to say Thursday which went unmet.
“The people in the square did not hear what they needed to hear,” one aide told Fox News.
Other lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., were calling on Mubarak to resign outright.
But concerns remain about what will fill the power vacuum. Though Suleiman and military leaders are expected to wield power in the interim, the possibility that a group like the Muslim Brotherhood — outlawed under Mubarak — could gain bona fide political power and shift the country away from the West and Israel has some lawmakers nervous.
Democratic pollster Doug Schoen said that at least 60 percent of Egyptians support the Muslim Brotherhood and predicted that in a truly democratic election, those allied with the Islamist group would gain a majority and “probably the presidency.”
Former CIA officer Michael Scheuer warned that what follows could be “a government much less friendly to the United States and much influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Lawmakers expressed hope Friday that a peaceful transition would ensue.
“I hope this will lead to an orderly transition to a more orderly government,” House Speaker John Boehner said.
“All nations must now support an orderly, peaceful transition to democracy. We hope the first steps of the new government will be to guarantee free and fair elections as soon as possible, while also keeping the peace with all of Egypt’s neighbors including Israel,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, the CIA has put together a 35-member task force to look at where the uprisings might spread next. The sudden revolt in Egypt took the global community by surprise, and U.S. intelligence officers are looking at several different factors to gauge where and if this movement might spread — they will look at the role of the Internet and social networking, the allegiance of various militaries, the youth and the unmet expectations of those who live in these countries.
All CIA station chiefs are being immediately tasked with examining these factors, including the strength of opposition movements, in their assigned countries.
