| ElBaradei comes home and almost immediately becomes a chief spokesman / agitator for those who are pushing the revolution. Almost makes you wonder whether ElBaradei is one of the chief puppeteers. |
WASHINGTON - Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei put pressure on the United States on Sunday to support calls for President Hosni Mubarak to step down, saying "life support to the dictator" must end.
In a series of interviews with U.S. television networks from Cairo, ElBaradei also said he had a mandate to negotiate a national unity government and would soon reach out to the army, at the heart of power in Egypt for more than a half century.
ElBaradei said it was only a matter of time before Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for three decades, stepped down. He urged President Barack Obama to take a stand.
"It is better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, 'It's time for you to go," he told CNN.
| Which means that the outcome is not quite certain: if ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood could topple Hosni without a call from Obama, they'd do it. |
ElBaradei, a possible candidate in Egypt's presidential election this year, dismissed U.S. calls for Mubarak to enact sweeping democratic and economic reforms in response to the protests.
"The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years would be the one to implement democracy. This is a farce," he told the CBS program "Face the Nation."
| So CBS is indirectly enabling this farce... |
"This first thing which will calm the situation is for Mubarak to leave, and leave with some dignity. Otherwise I fear that things will get bloody. And you (the United States) have to stop the life support to the dictator and root for the people."
"I have been authorized -- mandated -- by the people who organized these demonstrations and many other parties to agree on a national unity government," ElBaradei told CNN. "I hope that I should be in touch soon with the army and we need to work together. The army is part of Egypt."
| And soon it shall be his army... |
|