Disbelief in Egypt

February 11, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

CIA Director Leon Panetta incorrectly predicted Thursday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could step down by day’s end, even as he and other top U.S. intelligence officials defended their work interpreting swift-moving political upheaval in the Middle East.

Panetta said that although U.S. intelligence agencies did not know that the U.S.-backed leader of Tunisia would quit when he did, they had sharpened their analysis as a political revolt threatened to topple the hardline Egyptian regime.

“Those are the kinds of things that are obviously very tough for intelligence to predict, but I think our job is to collect as much as we can, to know those triggers,” Panetta told the House Intelligence Committee.

The committee chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., had asked Panetta about media reports Thursday that a Mubarak exit was imminent. Panetta strongly suggested that those reports matched his own information.

“And, frankly, because of what happened in Tunisia, we were in a better place to look at Egypt and what was happening in Egypt,” he continued. “We provided a number of reports about what was taking place there. We teed up these issues. And as you can see, I got the same information you did, that there is a strong likelihood that Mubarak may step down this evening.”

Hours later, Mubarak told his nation he would delegate power but stay in office until next September.

Protesters angered by announcement

Los Angeles Times

CAIRO

President Hosni Mubarak’s face glared down from a giant screen that rippled in the cold breeze at Tahrir Square. His gravelly voice boomed across a multitude of protesters standing silently, standing in shock, but most important, still standing.

When Mubarak stunned them by announcing that he would not quit, jeers filled the air.

When he said he was just like them, the countless thousands who have endured his 30-year rule and battled to bring democracy to Egypt, they laughed.

And long before Mubarak had finished, they answered in a roar that rolled across the square like a crashing wave until it drowned out the loudspeakers.

“Erhal! Erhal!,” they chanted, thrusting clenched fists in the air. “Leave! Leave!”

They had come to witness history, the triumph of people power over a mighty Arab leader, the only president many of them had ever known. They had celebrated through a long night of wild rumors: Mubarak had fled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Mubarak was in prison; Mubarak was being pushed out by the military.

The euphoria deflated like a popped balloon when Mubarak started speaking at 10:45 p.m. Some gasped out loud. Some began to weep when it became clear that the president would not step down. The disappointment was palpable. Then so was the anger.

But if the crowd had been operating on false assumptions, it appeared that Mubarak was too. It was clear that the strongman had miscalculated if he hoped to appease his critics by saying he would turn presidential powers over to Vice President Omar Suleiman and that the government would implement a long list of reforms.

“He is making fun of us,” said Anas Mohamed, 18, a college student who has joined the protests for the past 18 days. “I’m disgusted.”

“He makes us much more angry tonight,” said Omar Hesham, 30, an engineer. “It would be better if he said nothing. We had our hopes up, and he says nothing new.”

“He’s ignoring us,” said Fatma Ali, 22, fighting back tears. “People have been killed for their freedom here. We have sacrificed everything, and he refuses to sacrifice his office.”

Organizers said they would go ahead with a massive protest today, the start of the Muslim weekend, with marches in several parts of the city.

“Come back tomorrow,” shouted a man atop a burned-out car used as a barricade. “The fight is just beginning.”

As many as 1,000 protesters left the square to march north along the Nile to the building that houses state television, which has remained fiercely loyal to Mubarak even as other media have changed their tone.

The army had ringed the building with troops, tanks, heavy machine guns and barbed wire. Protesters vowed to create an encampment similar to the tent city that has popped up in Tahrir Square.

The protesters’ frustration was all the more poignant because of signals just hours earlier that Mubarak would step down. That afternoon, Gen. Hassan Ruwaini, military commander for Cairo, had gone to Tahrir Square and told protesters, “All your demands will be met today.”