Transcripts For CNN CNN Newsroom 20110211

you can imagine, the anticipation throughout the country as they wait again to find out what kind of news could be coming from the leadership here. >> i don't think they're waiting with the same kind of anticipation that led to so much disappointment just last night when they found out that president mubarak was not stepping aside. what you are looking at right now, and i think you can see it as well as i can, this looks like the largest crowds that we have yet seen on the streets in cairo. and i'm told there are millions of people around the country that have come out, suzanne. >> and looking at tahrir square, a lot of the viewers might not know this, but you and i have been in cairo, been to egypt, i lived there for a while, and this is really an unbelievable sight, because it is often busy, it is bustling, but the kind of -- the sea of humanity that you see, just everybody all together, and from what we've heard, the people that we've been talking to this morning, it has remained largely peaceful. it is like a tent city that has been set up with families, children, women of all ages, all faiths there, gathered to find out what will happen next. so many unanswered questions. >> you know, and, suzanne, there's a lot of speculation, even banners earlier today saying the people are furious and out in the streets. you've lived there. you know the egyptian people, they don't get furious like that. >> and they're very patient people as well. when i was there some 20 years or so ago, it was one of those things, it was acceptable, especially with the upper and middle-class egyptians, it was acceptable that there were things they tolerated from president hosni mubarak. i understand that there's a statement now. >> translator: in these difficult circumstances, the country is passing by, president hosni mubarak has decided, to step down. president hosni mubarak has -- president hosni mubarak has decided to step down as president of egypt, and he has decided that the higher council of the armed forces will lead the nation. >> taking them by surprise. let's see the reaction. many thought that it might be just simply an announcement that he was going for a vacation or a rest in sharm el sheikh, and that certainly is not what they just heard. >> and we know that president mubarak has already left cairo, that he is in sharm el sheikh. and we understand there's -- the statement continues. let's listen in here. >> translator: i, president mohammed hosni mubarak, has decided to step down as president of egypt and has assigned the higher council of the armed forces to run the affairs of the country. >> and that was yet hosni mubarak for almost 30 years the one man who ruled egypt has now officially stepped down. that statement coming from the office of the presidency. ben wedeman who has covered this story for not just years, but for decades. ben, i've got to hear your thoughts right now. and hear about the reaction. >> reporter: well, jim, you see the reaction just in front of me. what we saw was one man was on his phone. he shouted out, the president has resigned, and the crowd went wild, cheering, shouting. this is a moment that many of these protesters have been waiting for for years. it's a truly historic moment. the first time in modern history that you have an egyptian president voluntarily resign, of course, voluntarily under intense pressure from the egyptian streets. and what's amazing, jim, is that it was only 17 days ago, january the 25th, tuesday, when the first demonstrations broke out in cairo that really heralded the beginning of the end for president hosni mubarak, who's been in power, as you said, since october, 1980. let's listen to the crowd. >> what a reaction from this crowd. >> reporter: so, what they are chanting is -- jim, they're chant iing free egypt, and certainly that's what they are celebrating here tonight. the culmination of just 17 days of protests that have brought down what was thought to be one of the most solid, one of the strongest regimes in the arab world. this will send shock waves throughout the region. shock waves that began in tunisia on june 14th -- january 14th, when ben ali, the president there, was forced out of power, but this, 17 days, resulting in the fall of what was thought to be the most stable regime in the arab world, really is something of truly historic proportions, jim? >> ben, if you stay with us for a moment, we want to go to our own ivan watson, who's at the presidential palace, for the reaction there. ivan, if you can hear us, can you give us a sense who is on the street, who's with you, and what you are seeing, and how this crowd is feeling and responding to this incredible development? >> suzanne, moments ago the crowd just exploded into cheering and flag waving and chanting the words "freedom." and i saw two men drop to their knees and begin praying immediately in the streets. and the euphoria and celebration taking place just yards away from the white carved walls of the presidential palace, symbol, until moments ago, of power of hosni mubarak, man who had been president for almost 30 years and who has just stepped down. take a listen to the crowd here. it's a sense of freedom. that's one man here in the crowd, calling this a voice of freedom, suzanne, and now more people thronging to this place right now, right in front of the presidential palace, where the army has set up concertino wire to protect the presidential palace. absolutely scene of rapture, this is incredible. >> ivan, who is on the streets there? tell us about the crowd. who's in that crowd? >> there are thousands of people here. there were a few thousand in the early afternoon. the numbers of the crowd swelled dramatically as procession of people have marched up more than six miles from tahrir square on foot, a four-hour walk, and we were told by some of those people in the procession, in the demonstration, that they were calling down other people to join them from the buildings of -- apartment buildings as they marched their way up. it's a big crowd of people waving flags. there are men, there are women, there are families here, and this is a much more upscale part of the city. the crowd is just chanting here, again, it's really a remarkable scene, far away from tahrir square, which has been the epicenter of the protest movement. the people power that has now brought down a dictator. >> ivan, do you get a sense of the crowd there, the people that you've been with, anticipated this announcement? it seemed like they were so disappointed, so downtrodden. did they actually think that this could possibly happen? >> i think there was optimism hours ago here. one woman was chanting victory, victory, and people felt like the tide was definitely turning in their direction. and now it's clear that they've won. and it's probably going to be a street party all night here. there are a lot of smiling faces right now. >> ivan watson, we're going to k you to stand by. 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. let's 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 it. basically one sentence in which president hosni mubarak stepped aside. the epicenter of this uprising, little doubt about that. it has long been identified with tahrir square in the heart of cairo. that's 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 held on to power for 30 years, now being brought down by the people. people around me right now cheering, waving their hands, saying good-bye to hosni mubarak, people hugging each other, cheering, strangers holding hands and shouting and chanting. this is such a moment for egypt, and not just for egypt, actually, for the entire region. >> we understand people are shouting, the people and the military are one. they are happy that the military has taken over. it may be too soon to be analyzing some of the long-term ramifications here, but at the same time, they've got to be thinking about the future, even tonight, in tahrir square. >> reporter: well, jim, at this point in time i really think people are just caught up in the moment and in the reality of what they have accomplished. too caught up in that to be thinking about the future. however, people leading up to this moment, the majority were saying that they would absolutely accept having the military lead the country for an interim period. they have throughout this conflict seen the military, at least to a certain degree, arguably trying to take on a neutral role. we constantly, as the demonstrations have unfolded here, cheers erupting saying the people and the military are one. in fact, earlier, there was an opportunity for the protesters in front of the ministry of information to storm the site, and they chose not to. >> arwa, can you tell us about the military on the ground? how are they responding to this? >> all right. we appear to have lost arwa damon. let's try to bring in ben wedeman once again. ben, more from you on the scenes you're witnessing. >> reporter: i'm sorry, say that again, jim? >> ben, what are the scenes you're witnessing now? >> reporter: well, what we're seeing is that what you're seeing, is the huge crowd in front of the tank here on the cornice chanting various things, aloha, god is great. basically the joy is really overwhelming. now, if we can move our camera over, up the street, what we're seeing up there is that people are basically climbing over the army tanks that have been deployed since the 28th of january in front of state tv, just climbing out, all of them obviously probably going to go to tahrir square, where i think there will be a massive celebration tonight and well into tomorrow morning. as a result of this one line of news that appeared on state tv at almost approximately 6:00 p.m. local time. and as we see, just more and more people, who have been demonstrating all day long, now celebrating now that they have achieved what they all so passionately wanted. let's listen in. >> ben, can you tell us what they're saying? what you're hearing from the crowd? >> reporter: you know, it's so loud, i can barely hear myself think in these situations. so, i tell you, i cannot tell you. but, i mean, just the emotion in the voices tells you just about everything you want to know. it sort of transcends translation in this case. seeing more and more people, heading in the direction of tahrir square. i think everybody is in shock in a sense. 17 days is not a long time when it comes to bringing down a regime that, in fact, has been in power since july of 1952, when the egyptian monarchy was overthrown. this is something probably no egyptian alive could have ever have imagined would happen so quickly, so dramatically, and, as we saw this evening, so decisive decisively. there was a lot of uncertainty last night after president mubarak gave his speech, but that uncertainty has all but disappeared. >> ben, we saw a picture of a tank that was on the ground there, and we've heard from folks, we spoke with someone earlier, who said that the demonstrators were sitting at the wheels of those tanks, in front of those tanks, for the last several days. do we know if the military is participating in these celebrations? how are they responding to the scene? is it one voice? >> reporter: well, what we're -- what we're seeing is the that the soldiers are just sort of on -- they're standing on tap of that tank and watching. but obviously, they are considered, you know, the heroes of the moment, because they in the past two weeks, because it was last -- two fridays ago when the army deployed in the streets and the police pulled out of the city. and, of course, the people were celebrating the arrival of the army, because, of course, the army is seen as something of an arbiter in egyptian affairs, an apolitical organization, that is -- that defends egypt rather than the political structure of the state. so, as far as we can tell, the soldiers, at least the ones in front of us, are just watching passively as all this goes on, but obviously there are, as i said, the heroes of the moment. >> ben, is there any way to determine -- i know it's already dark there, and you've already got thousands, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people in the streets, but does it appear that people might be coming out of their homes, perhaps for the first time, to take to the streets and mark this historic day? >> reporter: many egyptians have been sitting on the fence as thee p these protests have been going on, uncertain about why all of this was going on. a little bit afraid because of the violence we saw last week between pro and anti-mubarak protesters. a lot of people have stayed away from tahrir, away from the center of town, for exactly for those reasons. so we can expect all -- many of the people who sat on the fence wondering which way the wind was going to blow to come out now and join in this massive celebration throughout cairo and certainly throughout the entire country of more than 80 million people. >> and i want to bring in our own wolf blitzer out of washington, d.c., anchor wolf blitzer, to weigh in on what we are seeing. wolf, clearly a historic occasion. i mean, you just can't even describe the kind of monumental change that is taking place in the middle east now. the people have gained what the they believe is freedom here after 30 years of this autocrat that was in power. >> it took 18 days, basically. there was some violence, but it was largely peaceful. and they managed to do in these 18 days what few thought that they could do, remove hosni mubarak as president of egypt. he is now gone. we believe he's in sharm ll l l sheik, and we heard them say he is no longer the president. the egyptian military who is highly respected basically across the board will take charge. there are a lot of details that need to be fleshed out now, how long do they do that, how long does the military take charge, what is the process leading towards free and fair elections, those are the details that these folks really want to get to. but for right now this a celebration for the hundreds of thousands, millions, in fact, who were really protesting. they were inspiredd by what the saw in tunaisitunisia. they said to themselves, the egyptians, if a small country of tunisia could do it, why not a proud distinguished nation like egypt do it with thousands of years -- >> wolf, stand by. >> yeah. >> because we want to find out, what is the reaction. ivan watson is at the presidential palace where this statement was issued, whether it was a tape recording, it came through state-run television. ivan, hold up your telephone, give us an idea of what the crowd reaction is where you are at the presidential palace. >> jim, take a listen. the crowd is cheering. it's just a few yards from the walls of the presidential palace, which up until a few minutes ago, were a sign of -- were a symbol of power for hosni mubarak, and now they are gathered in front of the barbed wire, the six-foot-high wall of concertino wire, the ropes are roped off in front of the palace. now the soldiers, they've got a loudspeaker here, and they're playing a message to the crowd. everybody trying to quiet down to hear it. and just scenes of rapture. you know, when the statement first went out, i saw two men drop to their knees in the street immediately in prayer. this is an arab revolution. >> ivan, stand by right there, as we're looking at scenes playing out on the streets of cairo. we've got more news coming in. suzanne? just getting this, obviously the world is watching the developments out of egypt as well as president obama, just got an e-mail from the white house, saying that the president was informed of president mubarak's decision to step down during a meeting in the oval office this morning. he then watched television coverage as we are watching these pictures unfold, these developments unfold, on television. president obama was doing the same this morning, looking at the scene that has unfolded in cairo, that he was there watching for several minutes, just outside the oval office, watching the coverage, as we are watching extraordinary developments take place. we've also been told now that president obama will make an on-camera statement later today about what we are seeing that is taking place here throughout the country of egypt. clearly, very significant development. the obama administration in many ways, jim, as you know, we've discussed this before, really playing catch-up to the pace of this revolt, this revolution, that has taken place in egypt. at the same time having parallel discussions, one back channels, trying to convince president hosni mubarak to leave quickly and orderly, and then publicly the president trying to stand back, if you will, to show the egyptian people and the rest of the people in the middle east that the u.s. is trying to balance, not be accused of meddling in their affairs. it's been a difficult job, i think, for this administration and for this white house, really to try to understand what has been taking place on the ground and the pace of change that those thousands and thousands of egyptians demanded, as we saw, which started some 17, 18 days ago. >> you know, i asked a few people on twitter to give me their reactions as they were watching this. they were following the show. they were following our reporting and seeing this surprise announcement coming from the presidential palace. how did they react? one says, satisfaction for and admiration of the egyptian people. 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 cairo's 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, we're just getting more information now about president obama reacting to what we're seeing on the streets there. 1:30 we're told president obama will come out before the cameras, and he will make a statement, an on-camera statement, about what is unfolding, what is taking place here. and you can bet, jim, there are a lot of people who are scratching their heads and ripping up the playbooks to figure out what is the next step in egypt, as well as the rest of the middle east. who is going to be in power. who are the people that they are going to be able to trust for information. how is the military's role going to impact who they speak to. clearly we know that secretary gates has been on the phone in contact with his counterpart, the military leader there in egypt. but who are they going to be able to rely on. >> we talk about the supreme council. you know, they talked about the supreme council, he's passing it off to them. does that include omar suleiman? the vice president. he's a military man in the past, but it's not entirely clear to me that he's on that council. we'll try to get answers to that question, and so many more, about what lies ahead for egypt. you know, go back in history, also on this date 32 years ago, there was another revolution. the iranian revolution. this is the date. >> and that is a very important question. because there are a lot of people who look at the energy and the passion of the people in egypt, and they wonder, what kind of government, what kind of power will emerge. will it be the kind of government, a democracy as so many are asking, demanding for, or will it be something that 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 that the people that are down in the streets now can feel that they have a share in the political process itself, in the decision making itself. that's what they have not had, and those are some of the big questions that are going to have to be asked, as this military transition begins to take over. >> and that is the question, the path towards democracy, how is that going to happen. i mean, clearly, there are many institutions in egypt that are sound, that are solid. you have a middle-class, an upper class. you have business people, very prosperous, but at the same time, what is that going to look like? how are they going to get to the democracy that they are demanding? i want to bring in our own wolf blitzer to talk a little bit more about this. wolf, i mean, you're looking at this sea of humanity and emotion and determination by a people, and yet what will tomorrow look like? >> you know, those are excellent questions, and i don't think people are focusing in on that yet. right now they're savoring in this moment, this truly historic moment, suzanne, jim, that mubarak is gone. now, whether he stays in egypt in the resort town of sharm el sheikh or whether he goes to some other country, right now that's not important. what's important is he's gone. and this institution, namely the egyptian military, is taking charge for what i'm sure these people hope will be an interim period. 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, they've tasted freedom now, and they want to see free and fair elections in the not-too-distant future. scheduled elections were for september. but you've often heard mohamed elbaradei, the nobel peace prize winner, the former head of the nuclear watchdog, the iaea, it's going to take a year to really get free and fair elections, because you have to establish political parties, you have to break the apparatus of the old world, if you will, and that's going to take some time, so it could take a year for international observers to gather, to be prepared for an election that will involve -- look, this is a huge country, 80 million people. >> and like you say, wolf, i mean, you've got 80-plus million people, and tonight they are caught up in the moment. perhaps few are pausing with a bit of a nod, a salute to hosni mubarak, he stepped aside peacefully. it could have ended much, much differently. he was already moving towards reforms. some of -- some of the framework for transition was already in place. but tonight, i wonder, let's find out, arwa damon, again, at the epicenter of it all in tahrir square. arwa, are the crowds there growing? >> a group of people that i can't even tell if they are growing around us, as more people come around to celebrate. i can tell you the celebrations going on around us are really just an expression of how happy people are, that finally their demands have been met. this comes after more than two weeks of demonstrations that have been bloody on so many occasions, so much blood has been spilled. and the people here really realizing that they've achieved something that was unthinkable before all of this began. demonstrations that were initiated over the internet, facebook, and twitter, have resulted in the downfall of one of the middle east's strongest dictators, hosni mubarak, in power in egypt for 30 years. and people are running around laughing, dancing, hugging one another, shouting anti-mubarak chants. they're also calling him a thief. that's one of the many things we're hearing here. people also saying they do want to still be able to hold him accountable. they say he's accountable for the billions of dollars of wealth that he's amassed. he's accountable for all of the deaths that have taken place here. they are really living what's truly a historic moment. not just for egypt, but for the entire region. >> arwa, tell us about -- explain to us this emotional roller coaster that these people have been under. i mean, you have been there during the highest points, the lowest points. how are people feeling? >> it's been an unspeakable emotional roller coaster for have been going back to when the demonstrations first began, the violence that broke out after the police tried to quell the demonstrators using tear gas and bullets in some cases, live ammunition, the demonstrators have seen their friends fall and be wounded. they've spent day after day after day sleeping out here in the freezing cold. they have had moments of great hope when they thought that the president might be stepping down yesterday, for example, followed by moments of fear and utter despair and disappointment. but through all of this, it's important to note, is that none of these emotions have ever brought these demonstrations to a -- no matter what the people here and across the country have been going through. they have been able to stand firm, despite everything that was thrown against them. you can just hear the cheers, the whistles all around me right now. >> let's bring in, if we can, arwa, i'm going to ask you to stay there. the secretary-general of the arab league joins us on the line. i just first have to listen to your reaction to the events that we've witnessed unfolding in the last 30 minutes. i'm sorry, do we have him on the line? >> let me explain to our viewers while we are waiting here, the pictures that you're watching here, you can see tahrir square, the people. that is -- i believe that's the picture on the left. is that correct? i believe that's the picture on the left. and on the right, state television that is actually showing you some of the jubilation and the demonstrators that have been out there. very significant when you think about that, because state tv has -- as we've learned, has not been broadcasting those kinds of images largely. they have been hiding what we have seen over the last 17 days. >> just look at these crowds surging, suzanne, as, you know, we witness all of this and you witness what is the upheaval in the largest arab country on the face of the earth, a country that truly leads the arab world, a country where people said this kind of a popular uprising was an impossibility, whether it was because of the military, whether it was because the duration and the strength of hosni mubarak's rule, for so many reasons, people thought that this movement really didn't have much of a chance. and tonight, they are proved absolutely wrong. >> and, jim, there's 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, but it really was a part of life. it was something that people accepted because they knew that there were trade-offs, that obviously there was aid, more than $1 billion of aid, coming from the united states. and there was stability, and a lot of people feared that if you -- if president hosni mubarak was not in power, that it would be a country that would erupt in chaos. what we can see on the streets now, this is sheer elation, this is defying what so many had been afraid of for so long. >> you know, it's once again i'm looking over some of the tweets that i've been sent. people saying, the resignation is a step in the right direction, but i pray power doesn't fall into the wrong hands. that from ray. and barassi writes in after tunisia, now egypt, which will be the next arab country? maybe algeria. people are wondering already what is going to happen here. but they're also trying to reflect, if you will, a little bit on the experience of all those egyptians down in the square that are waving flags, that are cheering tonight. says one, i do hope that the victorious egyptians are aware of their responsibility, of peaceful change in their country. i admire their spirit. that prom begita in portland. all right, former foreign minister for egypt, the secretary-general of the arab league, but tonight, first and foremost, an egyptian. what are your thoughts? >> well wr, the events are of historic proportions, the people have decided to have the president step down, to look to the future, and to establish from this moment a national consensus about the road to the future. this is our country now. we have achieved what the people wanted. and now it is our duty to go forward with a new egypt with goals of democracy and reform, and both of them should be based on the unity of the egyptian people. i am optimistic that we will choose the right path for egypt and the egyptian people. >> you know, as we look at these scenes, i have to ask you about the brief comment -- i don't know. can we play out the comment that was read out by vice president omar suleiman about 37 minutes ago? let's play that out, if we can. stay there. i want to just play this, again, for our audience. >> translator: i, president hosni mubarak, has decided to step down as president of egypt and has assigned the higher council of the armed forces to run the affairs of the country. >> that was it. that was it, the short announcement that was made as president hosni mubarak's vice president said he was stepping down as president. but armer, help us understand here, when he said he's passing power to the higher council of the armed forces, does that include mr. suleiman? >> that's exactly it, that he passes the power to the higher council of the military forces, that was read by the vice president. very short, but really monumental. >> but it would seem -- if he's passing it to a vice president, are there constitutional problems with that as well, or is all of that -- has all of that been settled by the way that this has been carried out? >> no, jim. there are certain dictators that had to be worked out, and this would be done, i assume, in the next few hours. but as of for now, the president has stepped down. the higher council, military council, is in charge, and we'll see what kind of procedures and other steps that will be taken. but what i want to assure you is that all of us here in egypt, old and young, north and south, women and men, everybody, is looking forward to a future, a better future. we will try to do everything we can in order to do things in the right way. >> this is suzanne malveaux, if you can help us understand, to clarify, if you will, who is now in power? would it be the armed forces, the military now, that is running this country? or is it the vice president? >> according to the short statement read by the vice president, it is the higher council. but as i told -- as i said now, there are a number of things that have to be worked out. what is sure is that the president has stepped down and passed the power to run the country to the higher council. the higher council will, o workt the details of that and who will assume the power, the executive power, themselves. >> thank you very much for joining us. i want to bring in our colleagues wolf blitzer as well as anderson cooper. anderson, you were down on the ground for days there watching and feeling the events unfold. what do you make of what's happening now on the streets? >> you know, i've just been listening to all of our words over the last 30 or so minutes, and, i mean, all words fail. i mean, all the words really, frankly, that we could use fail when you just hear the cries, the exuberance of the people in the crowd there. this is a square, liberation square, which was really officially became liberation square after the last egyptian revolution back in the '50s, and the amount of blood that has been spilled in that square, it has become hallowed ground in a way. and it is just an extraordinary series of events to witness, and we're privileged, frankly, to be able to witness this as we are. i'm joined also by wolf blitzer, who is with us. i mean, wolf, we've seen a lot of dictators fall over the years. this is an extraordinary development that is going to have repercussions that we cannot predict throughout the middle east, in the arab world. >> it's absolutely true, anderson, because first tunisia and that was really only a month and a half or so ago, a dictator removed in a matter of days because people demanded it, and egypt 18 days it took basically, a dictator removed in a huge country like egypt. so, i think that one of the key questions for the region right now is which country is next. and i suspect there are a lot of nervous dictators out there right now watching what's going on -- >> yeah. >> -- wondering what they need to do to get one step ahead of the crowd, if you will. if mubarak would have done a week ago, two weeks ago, what he did yesterday, things would have -- things would have changed dramatically, but there's no doubt that, you know, his timing was awful, and now for all practical purposes he's gone. i don't know if he'll stay in sharm el sheikh or whether he'll go to another location. >> yeah. >> but for all practical purposes is gone. anderson, you and i and all of our viewers want to hear from hala gorani, she is joining us, together with you, watching this. what is going through your mind to see what is going? >> to be quite honest, i didn't think i would live to see this, an arab autocrat, a dictator taken down by the power of peaceful protesters, largely a peaceful movement, save for those tragic deaths. but i just had to take a breath. i have to step back and take the moment in. ivan watson is there, near the presidential palace, i understand. ivan, tell us about what you're seeing and what you're hearing right now among the demonstrators who for the last 18 days have fought hard for this particular moment? >> i think one man summed it up very well, hala, he said, we did it. and the crowd, you know, these streets were empty this afternoon. the rest of sky row outside of tahrir square, looked like a ghosttown, and now the streets are starting to fill up now that the sun has set both on the egyptian capital and on hosni mubarak's presidency, with cars, people driving in processions and waving flags and honking horns right now. just a moment ago i saw a woman doing prayers on her knee. she was using an egyptian flag as a prayer carpet. as people chanting freedom and cheering in the streets. there are bands that we've walked past banging drums in the streets. i imagine that this street party is going to last all night. >> and do they -- ivan, are people telling you there telling you that they trust the military to transition the country into a plur pluralistic society? do they think that it will lead to democratic elections? >> i don't think people think -- oh, my gosh, there are fireworks going on in front of the presidential palace. i don't think people are thinking about steps right now. it's just the unbelievable moment with the force of will of people, the force of that to lead, and that for the moment, i think, is all people are going to care about right now. it's just the immediate honeymoon of the moment when a president has been forced out of office. i don't know if you can hear the horns here. >> yeah. it's just unbelievable scenes. just to remind our viewers and, wolf and anderson, are there as well, we've are watching this from the beginning, just watching the scenes from tahrir square as people are in manifestations of joy as this dictator has been in power for 30 years, is stepping aside, forced out by a revolution. anderson? >> hala, we had for a moment walil on the phone, he has been commenting and putting posts on facebook. he's the google executive who is on leave from google, who was held captive for 14 or so days, and his release earlier this week and his appearance on television and in the crowds, at liberation square, really helped reignite and reinforce this protest movement, a protest movement which many people had written off last weekend, going into early next -- or early this week. but the huge numbers that poured out into the square on monday and the numbers that we saw on tuesday and the spreading of the strikes throughout the country reenergized and gave signs around the world and to the white house and into the palace in egypt, in cairo, that this was not a fading revolution, that this, in fact, was growing and was unstoppable. let's just listen in, if we could, without talking for a while, let's just listen in to what pure joy sounds like in cairo tonight. hala, you were there in that crowd. you know it well. when you're in that crowd, everybody has a story that they want to tell, that after 30 years they are bursting to tell in terms of corruption that they have experienced firsthand, in terms of insults that they have faced at the hands of the police, uniformed or the secret police, the fear that people have lived under for 30 years. this is an explosion of just so many different emotions, but what we heard while we were there, hala, over and over again, people saying i am no longer afraid. fear has been defeated, and there is no turning back, they kept saying. and that's something that's really stayed certainly with me, and i think we see and we have seen every single day, no matter what the state, no matter what this authoritarian dictatorship did to stop the people, first with tear gas and with rubber bullets and then real bullets and plugs from their riot police, and when that didn't work, they tried to create a crisis to shut down the internet and shut down the banks and get the egyptian people themselves to turn on the protesters, and that didn't work. and then they hired thugs and encouraged their supporters to go out and attack them, attack those protesters, those peaceful protesters. and we watched for two days, a full-on battle in which the future of this revolution hung in the balance every single minute, and yet protesters in that square resisted frontal assaults from all sides while the egyptian military stood by and watched, and they were not defeated, and each day they grew in power. and the bravery of the egyptian people, we've got walil, is on the phone with us. how do you feel? are you there? we just lost him again. we'll try to get another phone in with him. but this is a people who they tried, the state tried everything they could, every playbook they had, as the professor from johns hopkins said on my program many times, they used the playbook of saddam, and they tried all the tricks in the book, and it didn't work. and this work and this message is now loud and clear about what the people in egypt want for their future. the question, of course, hala, is what happens next. >> yeah, and what's interesting is a lot has been said, anderson, about who these protesters are and when you were in the square and i was in the square i was struck by the diverse tiff the crowds. it's not just the muslim brotherhood, of course, not. this was led and organized by middle class internet savvy young people, lower-income people were represented, economically frustrated egyptians but also those middle and upper class egyptians that benefited perhaps from the growth in egypt. it wasn't low, it was at 7% before this all began but they believe that they deserved an open democracy. they through satellite news channels, through the internet saw how the rest of the world operates and with the tu in addition example decided, we deserve this. we and our parents have suffered long enough under these dictatorships, and that's what has struck me the most is how representative it is of the egyptian population as a whole, this movement, anderson. nic robertson i believe can join us. nic, where are you? what are you seeing? >> reporter: hala, i'm right in tahrir square. the atmosphere down here close up to everything, i will pan down for us and take a look, but this atmosphere is absolutely electric. flags are flying everywhere. there's a combination of joy, of relief, of surprise, of excitement. and so many happy faces down there. everyone smiling, everyone happy. everyone who walks in here just now patting us on the back, giving us a thumbs up. sort of the level of -- the level of happiness here is really hard to imagine but when you're down there in the crowd, it feels absolutely electric. everyone is coming in here. there's people coming in one direction and another and i don't know if joe is able to pan in around a little bit in the other direction, as well. what you see down there you see some tanks, you see flags, we've seen people walking up to the soldiers on the tanks, shaking their hands, i've seen young boys with the egyptian flag painted across their face coming up pulling soldiers by their arm, making them bend down and kissing them on the cheek. absolute euphoria. i don't know if joe is able to pan around in the other direction to look at the center of tahrir square which is behind me at the moment. it is absolutely thronged with people at the moment. tens upon tens of thousands of people celebrating in the area as we've just been talking about. it's been the scene of pitch battles, people being wounded, desperate situations. now it couldn't be further from that. scenes of joyous rapture. people pouring in from all angles, tens upon tens of thousands of people. hala? >> nic robertson -- >> this is anderson cooper. we have wael ghonim on the phone. i just want to get him because we lost him twice on the phone, wael, your thoughts on this extraordinary moment. >> i'm proud to be egyptian. i just want to say, you know, from the bottom of my heart congratulations to all egyptians and, you know, i want to say welcome back, egypt. to me i've read about egypt in the history books and, you know, they convinced us for 30 days -- for 30 years that egypt died and there's 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 means you can oppress people, you know, hard-luck guys, you know, at the end of the day, we have a choice and we've made our choice, by the way very early enough and you should have respected that. you are responsible of the killings of 300 innocent egyptians. you guys paid the price, are still going to pay the price. it's enough, it's enough for you guys that in history books they're going to talk to you -- they'll say one word to describe you, the dictators. thank you. >> wael, what does the protest movement do now? what do you want to see? >> today is the day for celebration. it's very hard for me now to even think. we have been -- we haven't been sleeping for a few days. we've been under a lot of war -- among the media war. i'm also in the morning -- a lot of people saying, wael, you have been logical and not emotional. what's going on with you, so i need to refer -- restore my calm attitude. i'm not an angry person, and i became an angry person. i need to get some sleep so does my friends, there are a lot of grateful egyptians. these guys -- there are a lot of people who care about egypt and today i think the problem is solved. the real problem is solved because the people in power were the problem because they didn't want to leave. they were scared of losing power and then pay the consequences. now as they lost power, there will be no problem. >> how concerned are you that the apparatus of the state repression, the secret police, the interior ministry are all still there? >> come on. they are not there. we are much stronger. we are much -- we are much stronger than all these guys. we're much stronger than all these guys, so i met with the minister of the interior so many times. i speak to him one-to-one. i told him what i don't like so this is what works. you know, one year ago i said the internet is going to change the political scene in egypt. you know, today i will tell -- you know, i said that what was egypt before 26th offian is never going to be egypt after the 26th of january. today i'm telling you egypt will be a democratic state. egypt will start a new start and you will be impressed how fast we will be developing. thanks. >> and your thoughts at this moment also must turn to all those who have lost their lives just in the last two weeks. >> absolutely. those people are the real heroes. those people are the real heroes. you know, like there are lots of people that we know that have died and also i wouldn't forget -- there are about a thousand people that no knows where are they right now. we are looking for them. we want them back, you know, the real heroes are the ones in the street. they are every single egyptian. there is no one leading us. anyone telling you he is one of the leaders is not saying the truth. the leaders, you know, on tahrir square was every single person there. the leader in alexandria is every single person there. this was a revolution. as i told you guys on my interview this is a revolution 2.0. just like the -- our revolution, everyone is contributing to the revolution and there was no master plan here. >> did you believe this day would come when you set up that first website, when you were in detention and blindfolded and held? >> certainly i fully believed. i knew it. i knew this from the day that i left tunisia. i knew hosni mubarak would leave egypt. >> you knew from the day the dictator left in tunisia that mubarak would leave ultimately? >> yes. because at the end of the day, you know, at the moment you break the psychological barrier of fear. the moment you break the fear, the moment you convince people that if they die it's better for them to die for a good cause than to live without dignity which is something that we all worked on in our message at the very beginning. then you should be sure that you are going to win because these guys are so corrupted, these dictators don't care about the people. they care about their lives and for them life is much, you know, life is much worth it and shame for us -- i love my life. we all want to live. we don't want to die. we all want to make -- survive free and open-minded. we all want this country to go where it should be. we should be among the countries in the world. we can do it and we will do it. >> wael, this is wolf blitzer in washington. a couple questions. first of all, do you trust the high council of the egyptian military to supervise implementation towards democracy? >> i am not a political expert and i have a question right now -- i wouldn't answer because i don't have the background to answer but what i care about now is that everyone -- i trust 80 million egyptians. i really trust 80 million egyptians and i really trust these people in the street now have broken the psychological barrier and good cause of liberating their country will always make sure whomever in power will work on the people's agenda and also believe that the army, that egyptian army and the fact that these guys really want the safety of egypt and they have already issued a report that say that they are respecting our demands, that they want to protect our demands and we want our demands to happen. so definitely the egyptian army is trustworthy right now for me and i'm not really worried because as i said, i trust 80 million egyptians. >> the question i had was first tunisia, now egypt. what's next? >> ask facebook. >> ask what? >> facebook. >> facebook. >> facebook. you are giving facebook a lot of credit for this? >> yeah, for sure. i want to meet mark zuckerberg one day and thank him. >> tell him why you think mark zuckerberg and facebook helped get people in tunisia and egypt and presumably other countries in the not too distant future -- >> i'm not talking about tunisia. i'm talking about egypt. >> tell us about egypt. >> yeah, tunisia was a bit of a different case. this revolution started online. this revolution started on facebook. this revolution started in june 2010 when hundreds of thousands 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 when the internet came, it really couldn't. i'm going to talk a lot about this. i plan to write a book called "the revolution 2.0" that will say everything about -- from the start. from when there was nothing until the end and highlight the role of, you know, social media and that. >> wael, this is hala gorani at the cnn center. i was just curious. you know, you've become an emblem for so many in this revolution, a figurehead. your name, your appearances in tahrir square, we talked about. do you want to now become involved in politics in your country? do you want to take on a leadership role in this pro-democracy movement, wael? >> i want to go back to my company and work. i don't -- i think it will be a big mistake for me to be involved. also if you read history, you know, the people who helped the revolution should not be part of the revolution afterward. i think my mission has been accomplished. i just need to work for a few days to make sure that the country is in safe hands and then i need to disappear from the scene. i was not the leader, by the way. it just happened i got all the attention that i don't deserve and i'm not downplaying the role. this is the truth. the real people should be hosting on your show is not me. it's actually the people in tahrir square who slept there and saw their friends and families dying beside them. those are the real heroes and i warn you, i urge you to actually meet a lot of these guys and don't put a lot of spotlight on people like me. at the end of the day, my role was accomplished. i really wanted this to be an anonymous movement until i was arrested and, you know, they found out and then a lot of, you know, a lot of speculation and some news organizations announced i was the -- i didn't want to be known for this moment. i don't want all the attention to come to me. -- my mission is over. i want to go back to see my kids. i want to go back to start working. i want to be a formal person and this is about the egyptians. those guys -- i'm not worried about this country having to see all these people in the street right now. >> wael ghonim, it's been a pleasure listening to you and hearing from you. congratulations to you. more importantly, congratulations to all the people of egypt right now. this is truly a revolutionary day in the history of egypt, a proud country with thousands of years of history. we're watching new history unfold and we want to thank you for all your good work. thanks very much and we hope to stay in close touch with you. >> i want to say a final word. thanks to you and you folks on tahrir square. you guys have played a great role in saving the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people. this regime did not care about the people and they would have killed a lot of people if there was no international media. cnn did a great job. you guys deserve a great recognition from all the egyptian people. we're not going to forget your role and i wanted to clarify when i said i didn't want to talk to international media, it's only because i don't want the regime to start doing media -- i have nothing against the american people, of course, my wife is american and i also have nothing against international media. it's just the fact that the regime had been, you know, misleading all the egyptians and telling them the wrong messages. you guys are heroes, as well. you are part of the revolution. you should be proud of yourself. >> well, we just want to say the whole world was watching what was happening on the streets of cairo in part because of us, in part because of other television satellite networks, in part because of you and what millions of egyptians were doing on facebook, on twitter and all sorts of other social network sides. anderson, hala, do you have a final thought you want to share with wael before we let him go. >> we got a thing crossing the reuters wires saying egypt's supreme military council will suspend both houses of parliament and govern with the head of the supreme court. your reaction to that? >> amazing. amazing. this is great. that just tells me what i thought of the military. these guys don't want to be in power. these guys want egypt to come back. i think that we are on the right track. i think that even if -- i'm not scared. i'm not afraid of -- i mean i don't fear the history. as i told you even if i don't trust anyone, i just am egyptian. this is the time where history is being made now. as i said on twitter before, that day, that, you know, the last -- the last line of corruption and, you know, oppression has been, you know -- we flipped the page and now we're drawing our future. we are dreamers and we made it happen and it's time now to celebrate for a couple of days and then go back and start thinking about how can we develop the strategy and what's the best for us? >> wael, i just have one question. i think it's going to be one of those moments when we all remember, you know, where we were when a historic event took place. where were you and what was your immediate reaction when you heard omar suleiman say the president has stepped down. >> in my mom's house with a lot of, you know, in my mom's house a lot -- like a lot of activists and having sort of like the center of my plan, my -- so i was there and we were all of a sudden like i heard my mom screaming. i went out and, you know, it was amazing. she started hugging me and kissing me and started crying and it was, you know, the rest of the family came. it was really good. >> all right. there you have it. wolf and anderson. >> let me just thank wael again. you'll be happy to know that twitter universe is exploding right now with your words you want to meet mark zuckerberg. don't be surprised if you get a call from him. >> ask him to call me. >> he'll be calling you. don't worry. i wouldn't be surprised. you'll let us know how that conversation goes. let's go to i think we're going to go to ivan watson. he's over at the presidential palace. excuse me, arwa damon. she's in tahrir square. let's go to arwa first and check in with ivan in a few moments. arwa, set the scene for us, do me a favor when you're there. i want to hear from the crowd. take a moment and let's hear what the folks are saying. >> first of all, this scene is something completely unimaginable, the ambience emanating from the demonstrators who have been here day in and day out for more tan two weeks now, wolf. they have truly achieved the -- they're fully aware of that. to think that demonstrations that began through the internet, through facebook and twitter have now resulted in one of the middle east -- stepping aside, it's something that no one, not just me and the entire region could have ever imagined. the crowds are so happy at this point in time, erupted in complete celebration. they're singing. they're dancing. strangers hugging each other. people embracing one another saying thanks to god, calling mubarak -- keep in mind they still want to hold him accountable for the billions of dollars he has -- they want to hole him accountable. at least now they know and say that blood has not been done in vain and the second part of your question? >> i want to hear a little bit of the sound from the people in tahrir square. if you -- or your photographer could get the microphone up. let's just listen and come back in a few seconds and you'll translate what we're hearing. just be quiet for a second. >> reporter: i don't know if you caught that but they're very excited -- unable to speak. unable to put in words. they're busting out into song. ♪ >> everybody, everybody in the whole world will remember this day. we're not just a bunch of people anymore. we're different. >> reporter: there you have it. the crowds are now erupting in song. ♪ >> yeah, it's hard to hear but we made it out these people are really, really excited, arwa. let's listen in once again. let's see if we can make out what's going on. >> reporter: if you're still with me, it's truly an incredible moment. >> wolf, one of the thing, wolf, that man was just saying we're just not a bunch of kids, comments made by vice president suleiman and president mubarak over the last two weeks, basically categorizing these people as just young people full of youthful exuberance but who need to go on home, go back to work, go back to school. at one point the vice president was saying we're not going to push them out but we'll tell their parents to bring them home. it was a patronizing attitude which infuriated many and particularly last night in the comments made by suleiman and by particularly by mubarak, really angered people, feeling like they were like the blood that they had spilled and the sacrifices they had made had been ignored and was being -- that they were being disrespected as many people feel they've been disrespected over the last 30 years by the secret police and by uniformed police there who have kind of have a very heavy hand and cavalier attitude and feel they can do whatever they want. ivan watson is by the presidential palace. ivan, the scene there is, i assume, very similar to liberation square, but this is the first time it was only in the last 24 hours that we'd started to see even crowds going as far as the presidential palace. >> reporter: that's right. just a few thousand people this afternoon and the crowd starting swelling and when the news came out, my god, it was an explosion. now it's a big street party here. you got people honking their horns, fireworks, people throwing confetti, dancing in the street right here, as well, and what's interesting, anderson, before, many of the demonstrators were predominantly young men but now families are out in the streets with their kis and next to a 32-year-old out here with her husband and little son ali, why are you here? how do you feel right now, rania. >> i'm happy because of the revolution and finally feel secure for my children and egyptians and their culture and history really deserve this. thank you. >> reporter: and people here saying they've never seen a party like this before, anderson. it's really -- i expect there will be dancing in the streets all night tonight here in cairo, anderson. >> it's incredible to see these pictures, hala, that we're looking at from liberation square. right before we were seeing the overpass, the highway overpass where just a week ago there were pro-mubarak mobs throwing rocks from -- looks like there is a huge bonfire in one part of the square. let's listen in. frederik pleitgen is there overlooking the scene. are those fireworks or some sort of incendiary device someone is waving around? >> reporter: yeah, i mean it's an absolutely amazing scene. you were talking about this highway overpass and just a second if you pan down there i can tell you right now it's a big street party that's going on. the people are dancing in the street but traffic seems to be backed up almost all the way to sudan, it looks like. walking around. and one of the interesting things that happened right after we heard the announcement or shortly after, you remember those barricades where the street fighting was going on just a couple of days ago where the pro and anti-mubarak protesters were beating up on each other, all those barricades just toppled down and an amazing amount of people charged onto tahrir square and that's where the crowd keeps going and going. more people now that these boundaries dr. come down charging in there. meanwhile, right in front of us on that highway overpass, it's becoming more and more of a parking lot as almost there's no way to get through here. people just absolutely dancing in the street. setting off fireworks and walking around with these giant egyptian flags and really the interesting thing is also the cheering just hasn't died down ever since the announcement was made and there still is a massive stream of people coming towards tahrir square. it seems like thousands, tens of thousands are walking over the streets below us and also on that highway overpass, anderson. >> and, fred -- >> i think it was exactly a week ago that when you were -- had snuck back into the square after two days of heavy fighting, you made your way into the square and actually were behind the barricades looking at the rocks and all the weaponry that the peaceful crowds there had had to try to assemble to defend themselves. it's an extraordinary turn of events one week later to see that same spot full of nothing but joy. >> reporter: absolutely. it's an amazing turn of events and i remember that you were down there, as well, in that area when those people were facing off and the street battles were so vicious. i mean, if you just think back at all the things that we saw when we were down there, the camel and horse charge, the rocks flying back and forth. as you said, those people who were fortifying those positions for such an amount of time and then to have this end so peacefully is really a remarkable thing and it's something that we've been seeing ever since those pro-mubarak demonstrators came off the street is that this crowd has just become absolutely peaceful, the barricades remain. they were still quite wary that the military might try to take them down and try to dive them off the square, however, the crowd itself, the anti-mubarak protesters always a very peaceful crowd, always, always intent on stopping violence, never letting a situation get out of hand. that's certainly the way it has been over the past couple of days and one of the interesting thing, nbanderson, i have to sa last night when we were hearing mubarak's speech, the beam came up to me and told me, it is important that they can be angry but they cannot get violent because they knew that their message was going to be much more powerful if they didn't become violent and many of them believed that hosni mubarak was trying to incite them to be violent to mount a crackdown. something they cannot do and felt that their message would just have that much more impact if they remained nonviolent and as we can see it's had just that effect, anderson. >> fred, i have a quick question. where are all those tanks that were in tahrir square -- >> hold on one second, everybody. the vice president of the united states, joe biden is in kentucky and we're told he's speaking right now about egypt. >> and we continue to stand -- >> sorry, just -- >> a set of core principles, the first is that violence and intimidation against peaceful demonstrators is totally, thoroughly unacceptable. secondly, that the universal rights of the egyptian people must be respected and their aspirations must be met. and, thirdly, that the transition, the transition is taking place, must be an irreversible change and a negotiated path toward democracy. now, i would add one last point and i think mitch would agree, even in this contentious political climate in which we work, on this issue, the united states is largely speaking with one voice, democrats and republicans alike speaking with the same voice. this unity has been important and it will be even more important in these delicate and fateful days ahead. so i will not speak more about this today. i had planned on speaking more about it. but it's much more appropriate that we all wait and the president will deliver his statement on this in about an hour. but what is at stake in egypt and across the middle east is not just about egypt alone. it's not -- it will not just touch egypt alone. you may remember that all this began when a fruit vendor in tunisia, fed up with the indignity of a corrupt government and a stagnant economy literally set himself on fire and in doing so ignited the passions of millions and millions of people throughout that region. word spread across national boundaries and movements emerge led by people no older than some of the students in this room using some of the same social media tools that the students in this room and many of you use which i might add is a powerful example of our increasingly interconnected world. it's a vivid demonstration of the transformative times in which we live, times that many of you will have the opportunity to literally shape. few generations ever have the opportunity just to bend history just a little bit. few ever have that opportunity. this generation and we do. as we began the second decade of this young century, so much is in flux. >> there you have a little preview of the president of the united states might be saying within about an hour or so from now. joe biden, the vice president speaking in kentucky as history unfolding in egypt right now. he says this is a pivotal moment in history right now. a fair statement indeed. kate bolduan is over at the white house. an hour or so from now we'll hear or see the president of the united states. kate, what are they saying at the white house. any immediate reaction from what we heard from the vice president? >> reporter: well, wolf, we're hearing the morning started pretty slowly and pretty quiet around here and it is abuzz here at the white house right now. we're told president obama was informed of president mubarak's decision to step down when he was in the oval office during a meeting in the oval office and then the president himself stepped out of the oval office to the outer oval to actually watch several minutes of television coverage as the crowds were erupting on the streets of cairo and really across egypt. what we heard from vice president biden right there when he talked about the core principles that the u.s. stands for, that mirrored almost exactly what president obama said in his strongly worded statement that he put out last night talking about the universal rights of the people of egypt needing to be respected as well as a key phrase that -- a key phrase calling for concrete and irreversible political change to be set into action. i'm sure that we'll be hearing more of this from president obama as you're expecting. we're expecting to hear from him in about an hour to hear what is unfolding on the streets of cairo. one of the last things that president obama said in his statement last night i think is probably we're going to hear more of in the days to come as well as this afternoon. he says that i know the egyptian people will persevere and they must know that they will continue to have a friend in the united states of america. reaffirming that the u.s. supports the people of egypt and really reaffirming what we have heard from this president all along that the future of egypt lies in the hands of the egyptian people but as one white house official has told our john king that's an unpredictable chapter that we are now entering. i'm looking forward to hearing from president obama in about an hour on what he sees as the path forward could be. >> as they celebrate in cairo in tahrir square, we'll be getting ready to hear from the president of the united states. we'll have live coverage here on cnn and cnn international in one hour or so from the white house. let me bring back hala gorani. hala, i know that u.s. officials are relieved at least right now that the egyptian military is taking charge because the u.s. does have a very strong, important relationship with the egyptian military, the highest leaders, the top commanders of the egyptian military and they have confidence that the egyptian military right now at least for a transition to democracy to free and fair elections, they're confident that the egyptian military better than any other institution in egypt can get this job done so they're taking a little breath at the white house and they're pleased by this latest turn of events. >> yes, they have a strong relationship with the egyptian military. they trust them. people in the streets are telling the reporters they trust the military to transition the country. that, of course, is something we'll have to look out for but look at these crowds, a live image of tahrir square. fred pligeitgen i think is in t middle of this. we just the viewers to take in the atmosphere here. tell us what you're seeing and what you're hearing. >> reporter: well, i have this great vantage point which is, of course, right above everything going on here and i can tell you it's absolutely amazing to see almost like all of egypt trying to come here with their car, people have been honking. people are waving the egyptian flag and there's so many people who are just dancing on the street, dancing around. it really is a remarkable scene, especially in light of the fact that we saw so much violence in this area. as you can see the sort of massive highway overpass, one of the main thoroughfares through cairo is just starting to turn into a parking lot with more and more people coming here and on the square, you can just see how it's getting fuller and fuller as more and more people are coming in here, also waving egyptian flags. we've been able to speak to some people down there and many of them said this was really the beginning of a new era for this country. there were some actually calling for president hosni mubarak to be tried in court but others were just saying they've truly believe this is a new beginning for their country. this is their chance for freedom and democracy and one of the interesting things that some were saying to us, they were saying that they hope that america will not intervene, will allow them to do this and that america will have patience with these people who have just apparently they believe won their freedom so it really is amazing. so many people, hala, who we saw who were crying, in tears. it's an absolutely remarkable scene, hala. >> okay, where is the military briefly? are the tanks still out there in tahrir? >> reporter: yes. the tanks still are out there. and if we -- sorry. if we -- if we -- if we pan down there, you'll see a couple of people that are sort of gathering around the tanks, so the tanks are actually still there. they're keeping their positions and people, as you can see, they're really obeying the orders. there's a bunch of cars in front of the tank. they're not moving past the tank to try to go down the highway overpass. so it does appear even though you have all of this going on from all vantage point, at least although the military is still very well in control. we have not had any reports of any violence or any buildings, government buildings or anything being damaged. still seems as though there is that amount of respect that we've been seeing from the military and the people who -- the former protesters who i guess are now people who are just celebrating this moment. so it is a very peaceful -- there's nothing of any sort of tension in the air between the military and the people, the situation seems to be very much under control. hala. >> okay, fred pleitgen, anderson? >> hala, we have with us watching this as well jim woolsey, the former director of the central intelligence agency. obviously as a former cia officer, as an analyst, it's the job not to get too caught up in the moment but try to look down in the hour, days and weeks ahead. i point out today is actually the 32nd anniversary of the iranian revolution, a revolution which began with extraordinary excitement and was quickly overtaken in unexpected ways. as an intelligence officer, what do you want to -- what questions do you need answered in the days ahead? >> well, your reporter just quoted an egyptian there on the street as saying egypt now has a chance for freedom and democracy, and i think that is exactly the right way to phrase it, because there will be institutions and people trying to undermine that chance. i think first among them will be iran and iran working with the muslim brotherhood the way they work with hamas in gaza. and the egyptian military because of its traditions and its being a draftee army has good relations as you see with the egyptian people and i think they will not be the problem. the problem will be exactly, anderson, what you drew the allusion to, the possibility that something may happen along the lines of ha happened in iran in '78 and '79 and if that does happen, it will be ahmadinejad and his regime operating through hamas and the muslim brotherhood and similar organizations to try to undermine this great and remarkable and wonderful opportunity for egypt. >> it seems critical for that not to happen, i mean the critical steps for that not to happen is try to build up democratic institutions in egypt which mubarak, frankly, systemically dismantled, eliminated over the course of 30 years, so the idea, i suppose it would concern you if there were calls for immediate elections because there really aren't many organized opposition forces that have any legitimacy other than the muslim brotherhood. >> right, and that's what happened in gaza. hamas called for immediate elections and we got one vote, one man one vote and it's now a theocratic dictatorship. revolutions in the past have gone this way for all sorts of reasons, the french revolution went that way. the bad guys eventually took over. the same thing happened in the russian revolution, happened in iran. the phrase the revolution devours its children is an old one, and we all have to do everything we possibly can to work with the forces of stability and change in a democratic and law-abiding direction in egypt to help them economically, to help them politically and see to it that this does not become an islamist operation the way iran has and gaza has and i'm afraid lebanon may be on the way to being. >> when you heard wael ghonim saying -- calling this revolution 2.0 saying that facebook, you know, is where this began for him at least, that's where he started his activism, does the intelligence community understand that at this point? i mean are they on top of that kind of the facebook, the twitter as a driving force in some of these movements. >> they may be beginning to be. i know people who for years now have been trying to get them to help get the right types of equipment and software into places like iran in order to take advantage of people's desire for freedom. we should have been doing exactly what has happened in egypt. we should have been trying to help foster that in iran and help set up servers, protect their facebook, protect their tritter, everything, and we really have not, but this is a good step because the administration is now starting to criticize the iranians' dictatorship for being hypocritical. it was just on your screen. i wish they had done that and helped with the facebook and the rest a year and a half ago when all of the brave iranians were slaughtered by the iranian government, but if we can maintain our support for a movement toward democracy and freedom and the rule of law, not just by one quick election in egypt and do the same thing in iran and in the rest of the middle east, i think we can put aside this thing that charles krauthammer this morning, a great son of, he said until a week or two ago it was really just supposed to be george w. bush and a bunch of neocons that thought there could be democracy in the middle east and it looks like we've got a lot of egyptians neocons out there. where did they come from? >> do you have any doubt there are other dictators in the arab world and autocrats watching this with fear in their hearts? >> i think there are probably quite a few, and if we can help work with them as we did at the end of world war ii when the communists were working very hard, france, italy and elsewhere to take over, we worked with the forces for democracy, we had cia operations, we had economic aid, we had the marshall plan. we worked very hard, and we helped keep western europe free during the cold war because of some of the decisive steps that harry truman and others made in beginning in the late '40s, and we need to do that again. we need to be on the side of the rule of law and a quick evolution toward democracy, but not necessarily in favor of really quick votes in places we do not want more gazas, hamas and the muslim brotherhood running. >> want to break back in, wolf, as we continue to watch, wolf, these extraordinary developments. >> maybe jim wants to listen in and get reaction from outside egypt throughout the region. let's go to cnn's reza where folks are watching as they are all over the world especially in the muslim world, reza, with keen interest. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, wolf, we've been monitoring reaction from iran, not so much in pakistan, of course, the images we've seen today and over the past couple of weeks in egypt remind many people of the uprising after the disputed 2009 elections in iran, that's when iran's opposition movement to so-called green movements emerged and i think a lot of supporters of that opposition movement today are looking at what's happening in egypt, the celebration in cairo and i think for them, it's bittersweet sentiments, they 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 iran's 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 didn't enjoy the rewards that the egyptian people are enjoying tonight so i think it's a bittersweet moment for iran's opposition movement. the uprising in egypt had created a lot of buzz in iran, and the question, could this spark a comeback for the green movement that had been mostly snuffed out on the streets and i think when you look at what's happening tonight with the resignation of president mubarak, that's going to add fuel to the fire, could there be a comeback? many of you already know that on monday, there's been a protest, a rally proposed for by the two leading opposition leaders, iran's hard-line leadership was quick to object to it and warn everybody not to come out so it's 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 iran's green movement makes a comeback on monday, there's 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 fall. tunisia, egypt, what's next? well, you heard wael ghonim, the revolutionary, the protest leader in egypt predict, look at facebook and you'll find out what is next so we'll take a closer look at facebook and take a look and see how this plays out in iran specifically among other countries in the region. reza, thanks very, very much. let's go back to hala. she's watching all of this unfold, as well. >> it's 7:37 p.m. right now in cairo, egypt, a country that's gone through a revolution, the power of the people taking down this dictator in power for more than a generation and nic robertson is overlooking tahrir square. the beating heart of this pro-democracy movement. what are you seeing from your vantage point? we're looking at these pictures along with the rest of the world, nic, truly an historic, historic moment for that country and for the rest of the region, as well. tell us what you're seeing. checking that nic robertson is can hear me as we continue to let the pictures speak for themselves. >> reporter: gives you an idea of the situation here that it is a great atmosphere. people singing, people dancing, forming circles dancing in circles, traditional dancing but i think while all this sue for ya is going on here, it's interesting to pause for a moment. i was talking earlier on with an arab diplomat who has a very keen sense of what saudi officials are thinking at this time and he told me that just as happening, president mubarak called king abdullah in saudi arabia and told him stepping down. we heard that king abdullah told president mubarak to hang on, to stay in leadership, thought to leave the country because this is something of great concern for saudi arabia. i talked with this same diplomat since president mubarak has stepped down and he's told me that this is a very worrying situation for saudi arabia. this is not what they wanted to happen here. this message that a social network revolution can topple it is destabilizing to the region. they believe that the only good thing that's come out of the situation so far here in egypt is the fact that the army is in control and from what we've seen down here in tahrir square this evening, the people very much support the army soldiers standing atop their tanks, standing at the site of their tanks being kissed by the people, hands being shaken, i saw one little boy with an egyptian flag painted across his face target a soldier's sleeve and he kissed the soldier on his cheeks. that's the sort of thing we're seeing here. that's the affection people are showing for the army. it does seem to be perhaps the only thing the people have in common with some of the leadership in the region, saudi arabia, in particular, the only thing they can take away from this right now is the fact that the army has a strong control and leadership role, hala. >> nic, we hear from some contributors who haven't necessarily been to egypt, in fact, about fears coming from the united states. other countries that islamist movements would take over if snap elections took place, for instance, but describe the diversity of the crowd. that's one of the things that struck me most, really, is the representative sort of -- how representative of society as a whole these demonstrators are. >> reporter: and right now it's exactly as you saw it, hala. it's a huge cross section. a lot of young people, men, women, children, people coming down here with their families, almost surprising, you would think families would bring their families into this atmosphere but this is a celebration, weeks of relief. how this will turn out being called out in raw emotion, raw euphoria, electric atmosphere where everyone is represented here. the muslim brotherhood who people have feared could become the dominant political force here, really don't have the political strength as people see it at the moment to become a dominant force. they've got political organization, some of the opposition groups don't have but in a true democracy and other groups would have a chance to build a power base, build a support. all these young people that signed up to facebook to come out here on january the 25th, they're not all muslim brotherhood. these are all young people who are doing this out of the aspiration to have this revolution that we've now witnessed here in the last few hours, so the notion that an islamic group could come to the forefront here doesn't seem to be borne out by with we see on the streets. the muslim brotherhood, i was talking to a young man recently who was a third generation muslim brotherhood, but left the organizati organization, an extreme intellectual. left the organization as other young followers had because he didn't think that they had a good vision for the future. the young elements of the muslim brotherhood are also using facebook and twitter and a part of this revolution, as well, and they don't aspire to many of the things that people often fear that they might. so a huge diversity and huge current of differing opinions here, hala. >> interestingly, a leaderless pro-democrat ski movement. anderson, we'll have to see in the coming days how they organize themselves and what their relationship with the military morphs into, anderson, eventually. >> one person thinking about that is mohamed elbaradei, nobel laureate, a man who returned to egypt weeks ago to take part in this movement and is talked about as a potential leader of a future egypt down the road. dr. elbaradei, first of all, where were you when you heard the news and what went through your mind and your heart? >> well, i was at home, and, you know, i have been going through up and down since yesterday hoping to hear that piece of news and it finally came. it was a sense of liberation for me, for every egyptian, a sense of emancipation of the whole egyptian people and for the first time egypt has a chance to be democratic, to be free, to have a sense of dignity, of freedom, so it's amazing, it's just like something we never experienced in our lifetime. >> we were just talking to jim woolsey, former director of the cia, who was pointing out in the past other revolutions which have started out with such exuberance sometimes get betrayed. how does that not happen this time? what do you see happening in the weeks ahead? >> i hope, you know, that we have to be -- the army is that to have to share power with the people. i think, you know, with 10 million people in the street every day, i think the message was not only sent by mubarak but the army that the people have to be in control and we would have to be vigilant and we will have to ensure during the transition period we would have all the guarantees for a free and fair election, all the guarantees for becoming democratic in this situation and i have no doubt that people after going through what they have gone through are not ready to go back or to see their revolt, revolution aborted. >> do you know, does vice president suleiman still have a role at this point? is he still vice president? >> i think as far as i know he is gone. i think, you know, because the army took over, so the president is out and his vice president is out and it would be the military command and i was told that they will reach out as soon as possible to wide sector of egyptian society and i hope that will happen as soon as possible because the army is there to help the country through the transition to ensure stability during it but we need to go back to law and order, to the economy start to function. we need to go back from a country that was going down the drain to a country that is looking toward the future. >> for the -- originally you had wanted a three-member commission sort of technocrats running the country in order to transition ultimately to a place where you get free and fair elections. because mubarak systemically wiped out so many democratic institutions in the country there really are not many democratic institutions. how long a period of time do you think egypt needs before you can have free and fair elections? >> well, i'd like -- i'd like to see a year -- in terms of a year. i think that's what we need at least to help get started, established. get people to get engaged, build an institution. we have to start from scratch and to my mind i think we need a year. we need a council where we could have one military person sharing power with two civilians. we need a government of national unity and we need to build all the institutions necessary so we don't feed to rush. we need to make clear that as we said that we will not -- after what we have gone through and learned from the experience of everybody else, i just got a call from george who was telling me that greece went through the same process and he would like to brief me on the difficulties of going from a dictatorship into democracy so i got people from the states, you know, washington administration telling that they are ready to help the people in every way they can so the good will is there. we just need to make it on our own and we need to take the time to do it right this time. >> there are some in the crowd who are still calling for mubarak to be put on trial in some way. is that something you would want to see? >> i don't want to see that right now, frankly. i mean the country needs to be united, to work toward the future. i mean we have so many challenges ahead of us and we would like to make sure that, you know, we need to build our economy. we need to have a society -- we need to build democratic institutions. i think we need to, you know, we need to, you know, not to worry about retribution at this stage and i think as far as mubarak personally is concerned, he should leave in dignity. i think that's -- i know egyptians are angry and feeling terrible about all the killing and torture, but at least mubarak needs to go and we need to look forward. at least that's what i think and i hope that i would tell people let's focus on the future. let us have a process of reconciliation at this stage. what we need is reconciliation and a country at peace with itself. >> hala? >> i have a quick question. do you trust the -- mohamed elbaradei, this is hala gorani at the cnn center. >> hi, hala. how are you? >> hi. all right. do you trust the military for a full year? i mean, do you trust the military as an institution to usher the country even to a brand-new era of true democracy for egypt? do you think that they will be able to do that as an institution? >> well, hala, i think, you know, we need them and i tweeted this morning, in fact, asking for the intervention because the country was really going into a period of violence. i was afraid of a bloodbath here when people thought that mubarak was going to resign yesterday and then he reversed his decision at the last minute and continued to hang on to power. so there was a lot of anger, a lot of frustration in the street and it was the right thing for the army to come, but the army, i think, heard from the people. they do not want to replace mubarak by a military coup. that's not a gain in the cause and the writing was on the wall. we need to be liberated. we need to be democratic. we need social justice, and what i understand, hala, that the army is going to reach out as soon as possible to a wide sector of the society as possible. i'd like to see that starting tomorrow so we can have a sharing of power, the civilian and the military and tell them what our demands are, what they need to do. we don't have the experience of running the country but we need it for ensuring stability during this period of things we are going through to ensure the economy is started running depend and make sure tourists will come, law and order, you have heard about -- you know, many others -- it has been terrible for a few weeks, so we have a lot of work on our hands and i hope the army will understand that we put our trust in them, but they need to, you know, to live up to our expectation. >> well, can i just ask one question to mohamed elbaradei before i let him go. this is wolf blitzer in washington. i'm getting a lot of e-mails and tweets from egyptians saying what about the money mubarenmon? >> he may be worth $70 billion. they want the money. is that something people should press for right now, ambassador? >> wolf, absolutely. i mean i think this is money that they owe to egypt. i think the first thing -- i mean if we are not going for trial but definitely we are going for the money. this is the money that is owed to the egyptian people and as soon as i see people from the army, i think that is going to be one of the priorities that we have to freeze all the assets outside and dictatorship, you know, we have suffered for 30 years and they have gotten away with murder but at least the money that we need here for development should come back to the egyptian people. it's the money that the egyptian people -- >> finally, president obama is getting ready to address the nation in about a half an hour or so from the white house. give me one point you really want to hear him make. >> i want to hear him loud and clear that he is with the egyptian people, that he makes a commitment that they will never support an authoritarian system in egypt under any circumstances that they will put all their -- whatever they can under the control of the egyptian people. i heard that already from washington but i would like to hear president obama say that publicly. i think the egyptian people need to restore confidence that the americans, the u.s. means what we say when we talk about democracy, rule of law and as you know, it has been, you know, they have been walking very tightrope, the rope finally has been broken and we need to hear loud and clear that the egyptian -- that the american administration, that the american people are all with us on our march towards democracy and freedom and justice. >> mohamed elbaradei, thanks very much. congratulation to all the egyptian people on this historic day. we will stay in obvious close touch with you, as well. we appreciate what you told us. >> thank you very much, all of you. thanks a lot, thanks. >> thank you. let's go back to hala. she's got more. >> well, we have reaction from around the world. iran, the uae, germany, all reacting to what's going on inside of egypt today because of its importance in the region and its importance of setting an example to the rest of the arab world. but today is a day to take in the atmosphere in tahrir square that epicenter of the pro-democracy movement and arwa damon is there among the crowd. arwa, has the sort of atmosphere kind of down a notch or are people still in full party mood. >> reporter: hala, the party here is definitely still going on. people celebrating. live music on stage. fireworks going off. the atmosphere is truly electric. i'm surrounded by a young group of friends. they've been out here demonstrating day in and day out. and i'll ask one of them. what are you feeling right now? >> i'm feeling that we just got our freedom. people are so happy here really. >> reporter: and what is going to happen tomorrow? >> i think tomorrow will be more celebration but people should go home because we just need to -- we are proud of the egyptians. >> reporter: hala, the crowd out here, yes, the country has sacrificed a lot to make this happen but these demonstrators have also achieved truly what was unthinkable three weeks ago, that president hosni mubarak would no longer be the ruler of egypt. to think that all of this has started by a call on facebook and relishing the fact that they are at the center of history, not just making history in egypt, hala, but history across the entire region. >> let's take a look at some of these scenes. i saw one young man held up a sign that he scribbled facebook and wael ghonim, the activist whose facebook page served as a virtual meeting point for these activists said he wanted to meet mark zuckerberg, that that was one of his goals in life. i'm sure he might be getting a phone call. let's take a look at these pictures. the tent city in tahrir square on your screens now. ordinary egyptians waving flags, a day of national pride for those who say they were not going to give up until president mubarak stepped down. and this day has come for them. there we see arwa. arwa, can you still hear me. >> reporter: yeah, i can hear you. >> tell me who is around you right now. who are the people around you, by and large, are they young, old, families? who has come out tonight. >> reporter: well, actually a little bit of everybody, there's young, there's old. there's people from all walks of life, everybody is celebrating. we've been talking to this young group of friends here. they have not been at the forefront of all of this. tell me, what is going through your mind right now. how are you feeling? >> i'm feeling so happy. and i hope -- i think that i'm happy -- this is an opening. >> reporter: did you ever believe that you guys would actually all accomplish this? >> i was thinking about this. this is what we did. what everybody did. i think it's -- good luck. i hope everything begins and -- and finding it out -- >> reporter: thank you so much. can you see the crowd behind us. really people from all over. people who want to talk obviously. of course, you can. >> we put down mubarak. we want freedom in our country. >> reporter: everybody is very emotional here tonight. everybody. >> i love egypt. i love egypt. >> reporter: pardon me? >> i'm egyptian. >> reporter: yes. they're proud of what's happening. >> freedom now. >> reporter: we've been hearing this over and over. people saying that for the first time they are truly -- they have managed to regain control of their country. they say freedom is now in their hands.

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