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The president says Egyptians of all ages were demanding change.
WASHINGTON — Declaring history in the making, President Barack Obama assured Egyptians on Thursday the U.S. will help its Middle Eastern ally shift from chaos to democracy — provided the government change is genuine. But Hosni Mubarak’s refusal to quit sowed more doubts.
Obama met with national security aides into the evening at the White House.
Despite enormous speculation to the contrary, including by the U.S. CIA director, the Egyptian president did not announce he was stepping down in his late-night speech in Cairo. He did pledge to hand over power to his vice president, but tens of thousands of protesters in the city’s central square reacted to that with angry contempt.
The long day’s developments seemed to catch many by surprise. Before Mubarak’s speech, CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress there was “a strong likelihood” that the Egyptian leader was on the way out and could step down as early as Thursday night.
Mubarak stuck to a framework for reform that protesters have roundly rejected, concerned that it will mean only cosmetic change. Egypt’s military announced that it had stepped in to “safeguard the country” and assured protesters that Mubarak would meet their demands.
Earlier in the day, as anticipation grew by the hour, Obama notably said that what the United States wanted was transition to democracy in Egypt that was not just orderly but “genuine.”
“What is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold,” Obama said at the start of an overshadowed economic event in Michigan. “It’s a moment of transformation that’s taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change.”
The president said the protests were being fueled by young people who want their voices heard but that Egyptians of all ages were demanding change.
In keeping with a pattern that has held since the unrest began on Jan. 25, Obama was cautious in his words, with no guarantee of what Mubarak would say. Even earlier, the president had watched events unfold like much of America — on television — albeit aboard Air Force One.