Obama Assures Egypt Not Going Back to Way it Was, Praises Mubarak the Good Partner in Peace with “Israel”

Local Editor

US President Barack Obama said he believed that Egypt had changed forever. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Obama stopped short of saying when - or if - Mubarak would step down, but said he couldn't predict what the next step was.

"Egypt is not going to go back to what it was," he said. "The Egyptian people want freedom, they want free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government. And so, what we've said is you have to start a transition now..."
"Only he knows what he's going to do," he said adding, he couldn't make Mubarak, who has long been an ally of the US, do anything.

"What we can do is we can say the time is now for you to start making change in that country," he said.
Obama said that the US has told Mubarak publicly and privately for many years that he cannot continue to suppress the Egyptian people.

"Part of the message that I think we're seeing all around the world is when you resort to suppression, when you resort to violence, that does not work," he said.
Asked about the Muslim Brotherhood, Obama said the opposition Islamist group is anti-US, adding that they are well organized.

On whether Mubarak has been a bad partner to the US, Obama assured "The US and Egypt are partners since long ago. He (Mubarak) has been a good partner concerning peace with "Israel", and he has supported us in fighting terrorism." He added "The problem is in the oppressive act the Mubarak government practiced against the Egyptian people."