Page 5 - Outside Egypt News Today

The strength of hosni mubaraks rule, for so many reasons, people thought that this movement really didnt have much of a chance. and tonight, they are proved absolutely wrong. >> and, jim, theres been so much patience among many of the people there in egypt, as they will tell you time and time again, having gotten to know so many there when i was there for a time, and those people, you know, they have complained for years, for decades, about the kind of oppression from president hosni mubarak, bu...

For 30 years that egypt died and theres no more egypt. we are just, you know, a generation that need to eat and sleep. you know, so many of the thousands decided to start a journey for egypt and then they convinced hundreds of thousands then they convinced millions of people. we were all looking for egypt and thank god that we found her today. i just want to say, welcome back egypt. i just want to say to hosni mubarak and to omar suleiman and to all those people who thought that being in power m...

Perhaps the united states, perhaps united states close ally, israel, would make them nervous. >> well, you know, i think most people have at this point agreed that only unless things go terribly, terribly wrong would you end up with something like the islamic republic. most egyptians, the vast majority of them, want a constitutional democracy. they want to see perhaps a strong presidency, a parliamentary system. much like the democracy that they have had in the past, but, you know, in such a way...

They want to get their lives back into shape, and they want to -- they want to be able to go back to work. they want to have some tourism, which is a huge source of income in egypt. they want commerce, the suez canal, they want everything to go back and be productive so they can all put food and enjoy life a little bit. but at the same time, theyve tasted freedom now, and they want to see free and fair elections in the not-too-distant future. scheduled elections were for september. but youve oft...

We are witnessing what is probably the largest public popular uprising in the history of the middle east. president hosni mubarak has stepped aside. he has resigned the presidency. lets listen as omar suleiman, who is vice president, delivered the message in a statement a short time ago. >> translator: i, president mohammed hosni mubarak, has decided to step down as president of the egypt. and has assigned the higher council of the armed forces to run the affairs of the country. >> and that was ...

Were a civil rights movement, as well, and i think by nature civil rights movements are very happy and thrilled when other civil rights movements are victorious, but i think irans opposition movement is looking at this celebration tonight and saying, this could have been us, this should have been us, they too gave lives and lost lives in the streets of tehran and other cities in iran. they too fought in the streets for much longer than the egyptian movements did, but they didnt enjoy the rewards...

Tahrir square in the heart of cairo. thats where we find our own arwa damon right now. arwa? >> reporter: jim, i cannot even begin to describe the atmosphere here. the crowd has gone absolutely insane! hysterical with enjoyment, chanting god is great, chanting we are egyptians. jim, this is the unthinkable that has been accomplished here. demonstrations that began over facebook and twitter taking on a life of their own, brings down one of the best-known dictators in the middle east, a man who he...

Another says just one word, jubilation. another one-word tweet from love for tennessee, relief. another says tears in my eyes. so, the jubilation on the streets of cairos really being shared by people around the world, who for the past more than two weeks, have been following this almost nonstop, suzanne? >> and jim, were just getting more information now about president obama reacting to what were seeing on the streets there. 1:30 were told president obama will come out before the cameras, and ...

Of egyptians started corroborating content. you know, like we would post a video on facebook. it would be shared by 50,000 people on the wall within a few hours. we -- you know, i always said that if you want to liberate us, get on the internet. if you want to have a free society, just go on the internet. the reason why is the internet is like help you, you know, help you fight the media war which is basically a war, the egyptian government, egyptian regime playing very well in 1979 to 1990 and ...

A rally proposed for by the two leading opposition leaders, irans hard-line leadership was quick to object to it and warn everybody not to come out so its going to be very interesting to see what happens on monday. will the events in cairo tonight spark a comeback in the streets of tehran on monday? if it does, if irans green movement makes a comeback on monday, theres going to be very little doubt that it had a lot to do with the events in egypt tonight. >> yeah, those dominos are beginning to ...