February 11, 2011 in Nation/World

Mubarak resigns, hands power to military

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Hussein Malla photo

Anti-government protester flashes V sign at Tahrir square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday and handed power to the military.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

CAIRO — Fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt exploded with joy and tears of relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned today and handed power to the military.

“The people ousted the regime,” rang out chants from crowds of hundreds of thousands massed in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and outside Mubarak’s main palace several miles away in a northern district of the capital.

The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country erupted into a pandemonium of cheers and waving flags. They danced, hugged and raised their hands in prayer after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall. Some fell to kiss the ground, and others chanted, “Goodbye, goodbye.”

“Finally we are free,” said Safwan Abou Stat, a 60-year-old protester. “From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great.”

Thousands from around the capital converged on the celebrating crowd in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, the epicenter of the stunning protest movement that was started by a small core of secular, liberal youth activists on the Internet and turned into the biggest popular uprising in the Arab world.

The protests have already echoed around the Middle East, with several of the region’s autocratic rulers making pre-emptive gestures of democratic reform to avert their own protest movements. The lesson many took: If it could happen in three weeks in Egypt, where Mubarak’s lock on power had appeared unshakable, it could happen anywhere.

The United States at times seemed overwhelmed trying to keep up with the rapidly changing crisis, fumbling to juggle its advocacy of democracy and the right to protest, its loyalty to longtime ally Mubarak and its fears of Muslim fundamentalists gaining a foothold. Neighboring Israel watched with growing unease, worried that their 1979 peace treaty could be in danger. It quickly demanded on Friday that post-Mubarak Egypt continue to adhere to it.

Mubarak, a former air force commander, came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control.

He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.

Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authority to Suleiman while keeping his title.

But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.

Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the turmoil in Cairo.

His fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah’s government in Iran.

Vice President Suleiman — who appears to have lost his post as well in the military takeover — appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement.

“In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic,” he said. “He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor.”

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told the Associated Press, “This is the greatest day of my life.”

“The country has been liberated after decades of repression,” he said, adding that he expects a “beautiful” transition of power.

The question now turned to what happens next after effectively a military coup, albeit one prompted by overwhelming popular pressure. Protesters on Friday had overtly pleaded for the army to oust Mubarak. The country is now ruled by the Armed Forces Supreme Council, the military’s top body consisting of its highest ranking generals and headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tanwawi.

State TV said a new statement by the military would be issued Friday evening.

Earlier in the day, the council vowed to guide the country to greater democracy. It said was committed “to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and endeavoring to their implementation within a defined timetable until a peaceful transition to a democratic society aspired to by the people.”

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the protest organizers, said the movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reforms but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

“We still don’t have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now the it’s like we haven’t done anything,” he said. “So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands.”

But, he added, “I feel fantastic. … I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a year and a half and now we are now finally sowing the fruits.”

Sally Toma, another of the organizers, said she did not expect the military would try to clear the square. “We still have to sit and talk. We have to hear the army first,” she said.

For the moment, concerns over the next step were overwhelmed by the wave of joy and disbelief.

Outside the Oruba presidential palace in northern Cairo, where tens of thousands had marched during the day, one man sprawled on the grass, saying he couldn’t believe it. Protesters began to form a march toward Tahrir in a sea of Egyptian flags.

In Tahrir, protesters hugged, kissed and wept. Whole families took pictures of each other posing with Egyptian flags with their mobile phones as bridges over the Nile jammed with throngs more flowing into the square.

Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, an online activist born eight years after Mubarak came to office, said he would be celebrating all night, then remain in the square to ensure the military “won’t steal the revolution.”

“I’m 21 years old,” he said. “This is the first time in my life I feel free.”

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

26 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 8:50 a.m.

  Finally. The Military is the only hope for Egypt and the Middle East, not to mention the interests we have in Egypt and the Middle East.

  The issue now is the “Islamic Brotherhood.”

  Obama now has allot of damage to the US to repair with the people of Egypt. The hope is our close relationship with the Egyptian military.

• 

  johnclarke on February 11 at 9:05 a.m.

  Translation for non hyper right wingers, the crisis is being handled perfectly by the Obama administration.

  I’m not quite sure what “Obama now has allot of damage to the US to repair with the people of Egypt” really means, but it’s not like President Obama put Mubarak in office, or suddenly is responsible for the decades long relationship between him and this country. Egypt would not have reacted well to overt US demands. They want to choose their own destiny.

  Regardless, no matter what happens on any topic, we can count on hyper Hawken for twisting any fact to a negative and then blaming Mr. Obama. The beat goes on.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 9:43 a.m.

  Here you go Clarke…. New York Times OP-ED. You really need to get out more. As you know well, I have been saying this would happen for 17 days on this blog.

  Obama is demonstrably NOT a leader. Also, as I have demonstrated many times in the past with specific cites.

  Trying to “prop up” Obama as a “leader” is like Obama trying to prop up Mubarak. In the end, you don’t fool the people.

  Obama and Egypt’s Future

  In Tahrir Square, I saw a young man holding a sign over his head. The sign urged President Hosni Mubarak to flee the country: “Hurry up! My arms are tired.”

  Lots of Egyptians seemed to feel the same way. They said they’re sick of Mr. Mubarak and the entire regime — and are increasingly resentful that the Obama administration continues to seem more comfortable with the regime than with people power. My sense is that we’re not only on the wrong side of history but that we’re also inadvertently strengthening the anti-Western elements that terrify us and drive our policy.

  That raises a basic question: Why does our national policy seem to be that democracy is good for Americans and Israelis, yet dangerous for Egyptians?

  To many Egyptians, the U.S. is conspiring with the regime to push only cosmetic reforms while keeping the basic structure in power. That’s creating profound ill will. In Tahrir Square, I watched as young people predisposed to admire America — the Facebook generation — expressed a growing sense of betrayal. In a country where half the population is under 24, we are burning our bridges.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/opinion/10kristof.html

• 

  johnclarke on February 11 at 9:48 a.m.

  Regardless, no matter what happens on any topic, we can count on hyper Hawken for twisting any fact to a negative and then blaming Mr. Obama. The beat goes on.

• 

  Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 11 at 9:48 a.m.

  Well, maybe this is one situation where having a Muslim president will be a help.

• 

  Scoutster on February 11 at 10:36 a.m.

  Daisy—

  How about Churchill’s for dinner?

• 

  cryssT on February 11 at 11:35 a.m.

  so, stop sending $1,000,000,000 to Egypt. we are then neither interfering or helping.

• 

  Diana on February 11 at 12:40 p.m.

  hawken, we need you on the ground in Cairo screeching about US interests and the Islamic Brotherhood. Have the courage of your convictions, Ugly American.

  The Egyptian people may or may not have an appetite for democracy. It’s really none of our business.

• 

  Scoutster on February 11 at 12:49 p.m.

  Hawken…

  I look forward to many more links to Kristof…You and he are like two peas in a pod!

  You did forget this one line, however:

  “These are Egypt’s problems to work out, not America’s. ”

• 

  Patanjali on February 11 at 2:57 p.m.

  The argument between John Clark and Hawken provides some interesting entertainment but both are blinded by their ideology.

  I was strong supporter of Obama in 2008 but have become disappointed in him since he took office. The repair that Obama has to do with the Egyptian people is the fact that in 2010 we gave Egypt 1,300 million dollars in military aid and 250 million in economic aid. We have in fact supplied the Mubarak regime with a third of their military budget for years. During the Bush administration Mubarak allowed us to us his prisons for rendition and torture of suspected terrorists. Obama continued the policies of Bush in support of Mubarak and only when it became apparent that Mubarak had lost his control of the country did Obama give hints that we would no longer support him.

  Any new government will have to include the “Islamic Brotherhood” within the coalition to be effective.

  The military aid we send to Egypt and the 2,775 million in military aid and 400 million in economic aid we send to Israel were negotiated as part of the Camp David Accords and have continued since that time.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 4:06 p.m.

  Any new government will have to include the “Islamic Brotherhood” within the coalition to be effective.

  Meet the “Islamic Brotherhood.”

  “The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America,” from which this is adapted.
  

  Hassan al-Banna, a charismatic, Cairo-trained educator known to his acolytes as “the Guide,” established the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928. Its solution to the problems ailing Muslims was a very particular brand of Islam: Salafism.

  Most Americans who have some passing acquaintance with the term “Salafist” assume it is a label for terrorists. Therefore, in the public mind, Salafists are the real bad guys, to be sharply distinguished from the ubiquitous Muslim “moderates” — who are purportedly “moderate” because they allegedly “reject terrorism,” not because their views are actually benign.
  
  This is a hopelessly ill-conceived construct, but leftists — who dominate policy circles, the academy and the media — are delighted to have us see things this way. With Americans in the dark, Islamists freely pass themselves off as moderates. That makes it politically palatable for the left to collaborate with them in undermining the American establishment.

  Today, ignorance about Islamist ideology is widespread, even after decades of attacks have made Islamic terrorism the top U.S. security challenge.

  Salafism, in particular, remains a mystery to most Americans, though it is the enemy’s animating ideology. Islamists have used our ignorance to great effect.

  To be clear: Salafism, the original inspiration of the Muslim Brotherhood, is the guiding ideology of all Islamists, the Islamist terrorists as well as those Islamists who purport to reject terrorism. Both types of Islamists want the same thing: the Islamization of society.

  Both reject Western rationalism and the Christian unity of faith and reason. Both favor Sharia determinism. Both support the development of fundamentalist Muslim enclaves and the ultimate supplanting of American constitutional democracy by Islamic law.
  
  Nonterrorist Islamists want to overthrow the U.S. government every bit as much as the terrorists do. They are not moderates. Their differences with the terrorists are over means and methods, not goals.
  
  True, some of these differences are intense and each side fires invective, and worse, at the other. But we should not be fooled by any of this. For all their infighting, the Islamists and the terrorists start and hope to end in the same place.
  
  They are the flip sides of the same revolution, playing a good cop/bad cop routine — which is really bad cop/worse cop. The differences between the two camps are overwhelmingly a matter of tactics, not goals. They have a lot more in common with each other than they do with the West — starting with brute fact that they both see America as their enemy.
  
  Andrew C. McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor and author of “The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America,” from which this is adapted.
  
  http://washingtonexaminer.com/node/84681

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 4:30 p.m.

  Meet Andrew C. McCarthy: Author of

  “The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America,”

  From 1993 through 1996, while an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he led the prosecution against the jihad organization of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, in which a dozen Islamic militants were convicted of conducting a war of urban terrorism against the United States that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. Mr. McCarthy also made major contributions to the prosecutions of the bombers of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the Millennium plot attack Los Angeles International Airport.

  Following the September 11 attacks, Mr. McCarthy supervised the U.S. Attorney’s Anti-Terrorism Command Post in New York City, coordinating investigative and preventive efforts with numerous federal and state law enforcement and intelligence agencies. From 1999 through 2003, he was the Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District’s satellite office, responsible for federal law enforcement in six counties north of New York City.

  Mr. McCarthy is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Justice Department’s highest honors: the Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award (1996) and Distinguished Service Award (1988). He has served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and as an Associate Independent Counsel in the investigation of a former cabinet official. He has also been an Adjunct Professor of Law both at the Fordham University School of Law and at New York Law School.

  http://www.defenddemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23928&Itemid=283

• 

  Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 11 at 4:32 p.m.

  I kind of love how, no matter what the ostensible subject matter, any comment thread I look at becomes a pro-con Obamathon within about 5 comments.

• 

  Kirk_Smith_Spokane on February 11 at 5:15 p.m.

  Good for the Egyptian people. Let’s support self-determination and stay the hell out of their internal affairs. We have much bigger problems to focus on here at home.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 5:51 p.m.

  …Let’s support self-determination and stay the hell out of their internal affairs. We have much bigger problems to focus on here at home.

  Sounds good on paper.

  The reality is that our National Security is directly linked to the future of Egypt. The US is foolish not to use every bit of influence we have to help move Egypt to a legitimate democracy with fair and free elections that are not hi-jacked by Islamic Radicals.

  Our ace in the hole right now, is the Egyptian Military, with whom we have a very good and strong relationship. At least the top command. That should not and I am confident, will not be ignored by Obama and our military.

  I can assure you that the radical Islamic Brotherhood, Hamas, Iran and other Islamic Radicals and Terrorists will NOT “stay the hell out.”

  An important pillar of the bilateral relationship remains U.S. security and economic assistance to Egypt, which expanded significantly in the wake of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1979. [US Department of State]

  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5309.htm

• 

  Kirk_Smith_Spokane on February 11 at 6:22 p.m.

  Hawken,

  I am sure the Egyptians are smart enough people to decide for themselves what kind of government they desire based on their long history and traditions.

  Our track record in the middle east is a mixed bag at best and I’d argue that the more we stick our noses into affairs that don’t concern us, the more it breeds anger and radicalism, thus adding to our national insecurity. It is a cause and effect relationship that we can no longer afford.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 6:46 p.m.

  Kirk:

  Granted, we agree, we cannot and should not prop up brutal dictators as we have done for decades.

  Please watch this video by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. He is a staunch Muslim and prolific leader of Muslims here in the US. His family escaped radical Islam. Please watch it and consider factoring this into your thinking.

  The way Egypt goes in the future has profound consequences for every American.

  here is a video by Zuhdi Jasser, M.D.

  http://www.aifdemocracy.org/
  top right corner of his website

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 6:51 p.m.

  Kirk: here is another video by Dr.Jasser warning about the dangers of the “Muslim Brotherhood” and Sharia Law.

  http://www.youtube.com/v/0ZyrbgIv4Ts

• 

  Kirk_Smith_Spokane on February 11 at 7:32 p.m.

  Hawken,

  Of course the U.S. needs to stop installing and supporting dictators and tyrants! Hopefully the CIA and the State Department will make this necessary course change.

  Once again, I think that it’s the Egyptians themselves who have lived under a dictator for 30 years who are the ones most cogent in making the necessary reforms to a free society with free and open elections. The people of Egypt aren’t stupid, they know what they want.

  It is a good sign to see Christians and Muslims protesting together in getting rid of Mubarak in support of the universal right to freedom and away from oppression, violence, and radical violent extremism.

  Thanks for the links on Sharia Law, I’ll add it to my collection. I’m already well-versed on the subject, and I don’t view it as a concern as it pertains to Egypt. Due to trade, technology and the internet Egypt is much more of a balanced country with regard to our western views and ideals. I believe Egypt will follow a much different and more promising path than say Iran has.

  Egypt will turn out fine as long as we let the Egyptian people be the masters of their own destiny.

  “Don’t be evil” -Google

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 7:38 p.m.

  Google [GOOG] has quietly dropped its “Don’t be evil” motto as part of a broad strategy to refresh its image.

  http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/04/google_quietly.php

• 

  Kirk_Smith_Spokane on February 11 at 7:52 p.m.

  Yes I’m aware of this, however; just because Google no longer uses the phrase doesn’t mean it’s no longer a good idea. Many people still use the phrase in the open source community…myself included.

• 

  Scoutster on February 11 at 7:56 p.m.

  Hawken…

  Take a breath, my friend.

  Eighty million people are now free. Free. That’s GOOD news.

  It is too early to predict who will do what and who will support whom.

  Tonight is a night for honking horns and shouting in the street.

  Eighty million people are now free.

• 

  misjustice on February 11 at 8:38 p.m.

  The sqawken Hawken’s of the world will never be satisfied (as long as there is a black dude in the Whitehouse with a funny sounding name and a D by his name). Just sayin’.

  Hard to think how flailin’ Paylin and grumpy gramps McSame would have handled the situation in Egypt any better than the current administration, had they prevailed in ‘08.

  I say that Mubarak stepping down has demonstrated that ordinary people can organize and force change where many once thought that change was impossible.

  Power to the people!
  ; )

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 8:42 p.m.

  Scoutster

  My friend…. “taking a breath”, or better stated, “sleeping at the wheel” is the liberal way of doing things.

  Obama and his administration were blind sided by the Egypt uprising. Never saw it coming.

  Hillary Clinton: Egyptian government is stable despite protest
  1/25/11

  http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/clinton-egyptian-government-stable-despite-protest

• 

  Scoutster on February 11 at 8:48 p.m.

  OK…I’ll drink a toast in your name.

  See you tomorrow.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 8:54 p.m.

  Cheers!