Amid Washington's conflicting messages on Egypt
Wednesday, 09 February 2011
Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were camped out Wednesday in central Cairo's Tahrir Square, maintaining their vigil after the biggest protests yet against President Hosni Mubarak's regime, as the White House worked aggressively to dispel any notion it was easing pressure on Mubarak or abandoning those protesting for freedoms.
Most of the several hundred thousand protesters who thronged the square Tuesday had gone home, but the hardcore that have occupied the now iconic space for 12 days remained in place in makeshift shelters.
Egyptians have staged one of their biggest protests yet insisting Mubarak step down immediately and ignoring a government plan to transfer power.
For many protesters it was the first time they had joined the daily demonstrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square showing the movement, now in its third week, still has momentum.
Many said they were inspired by a Google executive's tearful televised account of his detention by security forces.
For the first time on Tuesday, protesters made a foray to Parliament, several blocks away from their camp in the square. Several hundred marched to the legislature and chanted for it to be dissolved.
"People want regime fall"
In Tahrir, the massive, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd's ranks swelled with new blood, including thousands of university professors and lawyers who marched in together as organizers worked to draw in professional unions. The crowd rivaled the biggest demonstration so far, a week ago, that drew a quarter-million people.
Mubarak has refused to step down, but said neither he nor his son will stand for president in polls due in September. Vice President Omar Suleiman, who has been holding talks with opposition groups, said there was now a road map to hand over power, but protesters were unmoved by the plan.
"The people want the regime to fall," the crowds chanted, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Suleiman blamed the protests for paralyzing the Egyptian economy.
"The big presence in Tahrir Square and some of the satellite stations which insult Egypt ... make citizens hesitant to go to work," he said.
Suleiman said: "We cannot bear this situation for a long time and we must end this crisis as soon as possible".
Credit Agricole analysts estimate the crisis is costing Egypt $310 million a day.
Government attempts to defuse popular anger have so far fallen flat and the police force, state media and ruling party have all been weakened. Mubarak has the army left, though it has taken a neutral position in the crisis.
For the protesters, maintaining impetus is crucial. Some of them fear that a protracted stalemate will sap enthusiasm and draw more criticism from Egyptians who are not in the street but are feeling the economic impact of the turmoil.
Many in a country where about 40 percent of people live on less than $2 a day are desperate to return to work and normal life, even some of those wanting to oust Mubarak.
wael Ghonim
A protest called for Friday will be a big test of strength.
The numbers of Tuesday's protest were boosted by Google executive Wael Ghonim's emotional account of being blindfolded during 12 days in detention for Internet activism.
"You are the heroes. I am not a hero, you are the heroes," Ghonim told the cheering crowds.
Ghonim has for now at least been thrust to the forefront of a protest movement that has yet to produce a leader.
Later Ghonim expressed his sorrow for the victims of the violence that has claimed an estimated 300 lives.
"I saw young people dying and now the president has a responsibility to see what the people demand," he told Reuters.
Orderly transition
The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society 
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pressed Suleiman for an orderly transition of power that is "prompt, meaningful, peaceful and legitimate", the White House said, and called for the immediate lifting of Egypt's emergency law.
The state news agency said 34 political prisoners had been released, the first to be set free since Mubarak promised reforms to quell the uprising. The White House called on Egypt to free all arrested protesters and journalists immediately.
"The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at a daily media briefing.
Struggling to clear up conflicting messages that frustrated even President Barack Obama, the White House worked aggressively on Tuesday to dispel any notion it was easing pressure on President Mubarak or abandoning those protesting for freedoms.
Much of the White House ire centered on comments made by Frank Wisner, the retired U.S. diplomat who was dispatched by Obama to help nudge Mubarak out of office, but then stunned Obama officials by saying Saturday that Mubarak's continued leadership was critical as Egypt worked through reforms. Obama himself showed his frustration about what Wisner said, officials said privately.
Yet part of the confusion has stemmed from the government's own message, too. Comments by some State Department officials have been widely interpreted as diverging from the White House stand, particularly by raising doubts about whether it was wise for Mubarak to resign now, as protesters in his repressed nation demand.
What's more, White House officials were frustrated about some of the news reporting on events. The overall concern was that the narrative was getting cloudy and certainly not focused on the events in Egypt.
So on Tuesday, when Obama spokesman Gibbs was asked about State Department comments on the risks if Mubarak should leave hastily, he bristled.
"I want to be clear," Gibbs said. "I speak for the president of the United States of America. We are not here to determine who leads Egypt and when they lead Egypt."
"Tweet heard round the world"
The White House also released a firm statement saying Vice President Joe Biden, in a call to Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, made clear again that the United States wants an orderly transition to a new day in Egypt that is "prompt, meaningful, peaceful and legitimate."
The genesis of the breakdown in unified messaging on Egypt appears to go back to a Saturday, Jan. 29 Tweet from State Department spokesman P.J Crowley that was intended as a response to Mubarak's wholesale dismissal of his cabinet a day earlier, which Washington regarded with suspicion.
"The Egyptian government can't reshuffle the deck and then stand pat. President Mubarak's words pledging reform must be followed by action," Crowley said.
Some officials now refer to that as "the Tweet heard round the world."
By the time that message appeared on Twitter on that Saturday, Mubarak already had taken his next step by naming a number two, something long-demanded by the United States, and Crowley's comment was interpreted as the first U.S. reaction to Suleiman's appointment.
The White House was furious, officials said, and Crowley was ordered not to post potentially controversial messages without clearing them first.
Appearing a day later on all five Sunday morning talk shows, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed taken aback when David Gregory, the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," read Crowley's Tweet to her. She replied that it was not up to the United States to decide who took what position in the Egyptian government. She then made a quick day trip to Haiti.
As Clinton flew home, Wisner was on his way to Cairo aboard a government jet. He met Mubarak on Monday and, a day later, the Egyptian leader went on television to say he would not seek another term in office and would initiate reforms.
But Mubarak's announcement did not go far enough for Washington: He did not announce a repeal of emergency laws and insisted he would remain in office until his current term expires with September elections. Obama took to the airwaves to respond that change must happen "now."
The pressure from U.S. officials for immediate change, though not specifically Mubarak's resignation, continued through the week as the protests in Tahrir Square grew and reached their most cohesive level on Thursday, when government supporters attacked protesters and journalists covering the demonstrations.
Conflicting messages
The unified message, however, began to unravel again Saturday when Clinton told an international security conference in Munich, Germany, that the Suleiman-led transition process had U.S. support and deserved backing from other countries.
She also said the transition process would "take time" and warned that free and fair elections probably could not be organized in the two-month window that would be required under Egypt's constitution if Mubarak should resign before his term was over.
Wisner then threw himself into the mix, enraging both the State Department and the White House, by telling the Munich conference in a video linkup from New York on Saturday that Mubarak was "utterly critical" to the transition process and should not be forced to leave.
The administration distanced itself from Wisner and repeatedly pointed out that he is a private citizen who stopped representing the administration when he left Cairo.
Still, his message appeared to be echoed by Clinton on Sunday when she told reporters flying back with her from Munich that Mubarak's early departure could be problematic and actually imperil reforms.
In a half-hour, on-the-record question-and-answer session, she suggested that the administration was now more focused on encouraging "orderly transition" in Egypt than in seeing Mubarak go quickly. She also implied that Mubarak's continued, although less powerful, presence at the top of the Egyptian government might actually help complete the process.
By Monday, the White House had begun to have enough.
At Monday's press briefing, Gibbs repeatedly reminded reporters that Wisner had been the choice of the Clinton State Department. At least four times he referred questions about Wisner to the department.
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