Obama welcomes transition in Egypt

Obama, speaking from the Grand Foyer of the White House, squarely aligned himself with the demonstrators who risked violent reprisals from the government in demanding personal freedoms denied to them for more than three decades.

"There are very few moments in our lives where we have the privilege to witness history taking place," the president said in a seven-minute address. "This is one of those moments. This is one of those times. The people in Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard, and Egypt will never be the same."

Since the uprisings began 18 days ago, the Obama administration has taken a cautious stance, avoiding any impression that it was picking and choosing Egypt's leaders. In his public statements, Obama invariably has stopped short of calling for Mubarak's ouster.

But he left no doubt that he believed Mubarak's resignation Friday was a crucial step in Egypt's evolution toward a government that respects individual rights.

"Egypt has played a pivotal role in human history for over 6,000 years," Obama said. "But over the last few weeks the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace as the Egyptian people demanded their universal rights."

Cable TV stations carrying the speech showed split-screen images of jubilant crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square, giddy over the announcement hours earlier that Mubarak had stepped down.

Obama said the country is only beginning a transition toward democratic government. He called upon the military, which has taken charge of Egypt, to help usher in the new era by lifting the emergency law that has been used to repress the population for decades.

"By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people's hunger for change," Obama said. "But this is not the end of Egypt's transition. It's a beginning. I'm sure there will be difficult days ahead and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks."

Obama commended the army for not firing upon the vast crowds protesting Mubarak's continued rule. But he reserved most of his praise for the protesters. He drew a link between the rebellion that began Jan 25 and some of the epochal political movements of 20th century: Gandhi's non-violent struggle for India's independence; the Berlin Wall's crumbling; Martin Luther King's fight for racial equality in the United States.

And he drew a moral contrast between the peaceful protests in Egypt and the violent tactics employed by terrorists.

"Egyptians have inspired us and they've done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained through violence," Obama said. "For in Egypt it was the moral force of non-violence - not terrorism, not mindless killing - but nonviolence, moral force, that bent the arc of history toward justice once more.

"And while the sights and sounds we heard were entirely Egyptian, we can't help but hear the echoes of history."

In his statement, Obama invoked scenes from the protests and empowering slogans chanted by the demonstrators. He mentioned the makeshift medical stations to treat the wounded and the volunteers who made sure demonstrators entering Tahrir Square were unarmed.

Noting that the word "Tahrir" means "liberation" in English, he said: "It is a word that speaks to that something in our souls that cries out for freedom. And forever more it will remind us of the Egyptian people - of what they did; of the things that they stood for; and how they changed their country and in doing so changed the world."