the vice-president, omar suleiman, also addressed the nation. he called on the protesters to go home and said the egyptians must unite. but the opposition warns that egypt will explode when the opposition leader called on the army to save the nation. welcome to the egyptian capital, cairo. this is the scene live from tahrir square tonight as protesters come to terms with the speech by their president. contrary to their expectations and hopes, the president said he is still staying in power to keep his promise of a peaceful transition of power, but president mubarak did tell the nation that he was transferring some of his powers to his vice- president, omar suleiman. his announcement was responded to with anger and fury and despair by the protesters who have gathered for the last 17 days. not just in central cairo, but in many other cities of egypt. there are reports tonight that some protesters have left the square and moved towards state television buildings. there are also some reports of protesters vowing to march towards the presidential pow

mubarak owes his life to omar suleiman. in the mid-1990s, mubarak traveled to addis ababa for an o.a.u. conference summit. the egyptian intelligence picked up that there could be a plot on him and omar suleiman insisted he go in an armored car and that armored car saved his life and mubarak on many occasions has credited suleiman with doing it. so if anybody can tell him it's time to go it's probably omar suleiman. >> rose: so therefore each of his... he's fortunate to have omar suleiman there because he can speak to both mubarak and the army, maybe not have the same kind of credibility with the people in the street but because he can speak with and for the army may very well have the ability to reach them. >> i think that he's already... >> definitely an authoritative voice in all of this. he's somebody the army knows, he's somebody the intelligence services know. but the people on the street see omar suleiman as just twisting mubarak redux. >> rose: and can he... but can he convince them i'm the one person who can ease mu

omar suleiman hardly the words of a neutral and worse far removed from the people who had ministration kane's to be listening to. dr meg heads of the human rights organization that teaches each option is about democracy he says egypt don't like solomon for the very reason americans do almost in part. we consider american people. don't. want to. live mubarak who was still. in the power in those targeted last year by the u.k.'s telegraph is the most powerful spook in the region so a man is suave sophisticated and fluent in english but the former head of egypt's intelligence service worked for years as the cia's man in cairo. solomon is accused of having been personally involved in torturing suspects this is the problem now in egypt is there's a struggle between not between mubarak and the people but because between the american cia covert operators of u.s. power around the world and the people are having to try to get mubarak replaced with somebody else it's hard to ignore the fact that the very abuses that drove hundreds of thousands of people into the streets had some assistance from t

he has given a lot of his powers to omar suleiman. he has repealed some of the onerous parts of the constitution with regards to elections and freedom. you have a transition, whether it is good to be smooth or not. i think that is the key issue. i think when it occurs you will see some changes in policy, but by and large, the people pushing this do not want to change the policy toward israel. they do not want to see egypt become a haven for al qaeda, or any of the extreme things people are talking about. >> we have heard comments today from the white house. it pretty adamant line, pretty vocal disappointment being a expressed. has this set the tone for the white house over the next few days? >> i think it has. after going back and forth about whether egypt was stable and what should happen, i think the administration has finally decided mubarak has got to go. we need a democratic egypt. we are willing to live with the consequences of what ever the people in egypt want. >> a former lecturer from london metropolitan university is with t

he has given them to vice- president omar suleiman. do you regard that as a victory? >> i cannot speak for everybody, but right now, it is not about him and giving away his powers. right now, it is a symbol of him in power that is the issue. he needs to be out of the picture to get this country moving along. he mentioned egypt was going through a hard time and would face economic hardships. i think the longer he stays in power, the longer he drags out of this soap opera, the more difficulty and hardship we're going to see in egypt. i think people are fed up. >> it is early in the morning. is cold. do you sense a lot of people will spend tonight in the square now? >> definitely. tahrir square has become a little city in and of itself. there are tents and utilities. there are a lot of people who will spend the night here tonight again and are intent on staying here until they hear the message they have been waiting to hear which is that mubarak needs to go. >> thank you for joining us. we're going to stay in the square. you must know that the reporting has changed drama

even his vice-president, omar suleiman, was not present in this meeting. in this meeting, they decided that this council is going to permanently meet now in the military communique number one. this is the sign that they say they meet permanently ended the get the communicate's numbers, which means others will follow, more numbers. and means that they are really going to be thinking they will be in charge. which means that probably this military council took over power now from mubarak himself. or at least the military wants to show that they make independent decisions from mubarak. that is the minimum. >> is it the situation in cairo but also throughout the country and with the military? >> it is for the whole country. what is going on with mubarak is very contradictory. there are reports saying that he is on his way to some kind of internal exile. there are other reports saying he might have left the country. the egyptian television says he is meeting omar suleiman and his prime minister. but of course, looking at of my window, seeing the the presidential

the more the protest goes on the more omar suleiman loses. if he had been appointed president 10 years ago or 5 years ago we'd be looking at a different outcome. given the manner this was all done, i'd say the protesters and the military government will remain sort of on a collision course for the time period to come. >> the big question, though, is there could be a power vacuum left, couldn't there? because if they do all agree to stand down, where do you go from there? who is going to take control? >> well, i think eventually the military will hide off enough seggles of the regime, they've got rid of the crony capitalist class connected to mubarak and i think they'll start halving off sections until basically they wear down the opposition. i think at least that's their strategy. >> well, the unrest in egypt is pushing up the price of oil. brent crude which is the bench park for oil prices in europe and asia passed the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since 2008. in the u.s., the price of oil has climbed 8% during the course of two trad

. >> vice-president omar suleiman's warning has been disregarded by the protesters. they are going to continue demonstrations. at the palace, mubarak met with a russian envoy. the kremlin said it will not interfere with egyptian internal affairs, but is concerned with the unrest. back on the streets, protests stepped up a gear, with demonstratorblocking the entranceto parliament and increasing pressure on mubarak. >> earlier, we spoke with our correspondent in cairo, karim el gawhary, and asked what he knew about the violence in el khaa. >> el kharga is an oasis several kilometers away from cairo. this remote has -- this protest has spread to the most remote area in egypt. it is the same thing as cairo, but with delayed effect. there was a police station famous for torturing people. people went out to demonstrate in the last what happened is that the police gathered in order to terrorize the population of the village, the same thing they did in cairo. the population stormed the police station and the security headquarters there. while this was happening, they were sh

the key player is the vice president, omar suleiman and the military. so far, so good, in terms of them not firing on the crowd, stepping back and trying to oversee this process. so even though it's very complicated, i actually am hopeful that this could actually turn out quite well in the end. as we've seen in other cases, like in indonesia. >> schieffer: thanks to all of you so much. back in a minute. so the jury has rendered its verdict -- guilty. [ cheers and applause ] i'm here with the defendant. sir, the plaintiff claims she changed her travel plans, paid the difference in airfare, but you added a 150-dollar change fee. oh, boo hoo. who can afford a 150-dollar change fee? me. well, she says she's going to fly southwest next time because they don't do that. they love customers, i love cash. [ male announcer ] don't pay a change fee on top of a fare difference. fly southwest, the only major airline that never charges change fees. [ male announcer ] before he changed the world... tear down this wall. [ male announcer ] ...or led a nation... i ronald

right now the candidate seems to be omar suleiman. but i think in answer to your original question there is unity among the senior people, whether that is suleiman, mubarak, the chief of staff, the head of the presidential guard and the prime minister, achmed that fiqh, an air force commander. >> woodruff: let me just continue there. when the vice president says, steve cook, that he is prepared to meet with the muslim brotherhood to begin negotiations, do we take him at his word giving what's been going on? >> i would not take him at his word. i think that this is part of a broader strategy to undermine the opposition, to deflect the opposition and to sow divisions among the oppositions. omar suleiman as the director of the intelligence service along with president mubarak have been two of the people most responsible for maintaining this authoritarian stability and repressing different political movements in egypt, primarily the muslim brotherhood. so there's no reason to believe that they're very serious about this other than it bein

we discussed all of this in my exclusive interview with omar suleiman. you said that you had started dialogue with the opposition party. >> yes. >> including mr. elbaradei? >> no, elbaradei is not one of the opposition. he has his own group which is the brotherhood muslim or have links to muslim brotherhood and muslim brotherhood said they want to meet with me without mr. elbaradei. >> what do you understand by transition must happen now as the united states is saying and many other countries are saying? >> it is the process starting by national dialogue which has started this morning, and we will continue tomorrow and after tomorrow. we want the young people to know that all your demands, all your hoff positive, and we promise that we will do and we need quiet time to implement these things. >> what is your fear if president mubarak was to say i've had enough? he's told me that he's had enough, 62 years of public service, and he wants to go but not quite yet. what are the concerns? why would he not go now? >> we don't want chaos in our country. if presi

even his vice-president, omar suleiman, was not present in this meeting. in this meeting, they decided that this council is going to permanently meet now in the military communique number one. this is the sign that they say they meet permanently ended the get the communicate's numbers, which means others will follow, more numbers. and means that they are really going to be thinking they will be in charge. which means that probably this military council took over power now from mubarak himself. or at least the military wants to show that they make independent decisions from mubarak. that is the minimum. >> is it the situation in cairo but also throughout the country and with the military? >> it is for the whole country. what is going on with mubarak is very contradictory. there are reports saying that he is on his way to some kind of internal exile. there are other reports saying he might have left the country. the egyptian television says he is meeting omar suleiman and his prime minister. but of course, looking at of my window, seeing the the presidential

and there's some indications that if for example omar suleiman remains as president and keeps very much the privileges and powers that hosni mubarak now has, that egypt could end up looking something more like vladimir putin's russia, you know with a very strong security system and a lot of the efforts of these democracy protestors might end up being in vain. that's a big worry. and i think a lot of egyptians fear that outcome. and in terms of the rest of the region and the united states, i think that most of the important elements of where egypt fits into the regional puzzle are unlikely to change very quickly. the peace treaty with israel almost whatever outcome there is in egypt, the egyptian military does not want to get into a confrontation with a state that is next door and much better armed than egypt. i mean they have fought three wars with israel already. and it has been a painful experience. and they don't really want to go through it again. four wars, actually. and so i think the military would serve to preserve the peace with israel even if there were a democratically electe

. >> vice-president omar suleiman's warning has been disregarded by the protesters. they are going to continue demonstrations. at the palace, mubarak met with a russian envoy. the kremlin said it will not interfere with egyptian internal affairs, but is concerned with the unrest. back on the streets, protests stepped up a gear, with demonstrators blocking the entrance to parliament and increasing pressure on mubarak. >> earlier, we spoke with our correspondent in cairo, karim el gawhary, and asked what he knew about the violence in el kharga. >> el kharga is an oasis several kilometers away from cairo. this remote has -- this protest has spread to the most remote area in egypt. it is the same thing as cairo, but with delayed effect. there was a police station famous for torturing people. people went out to demonstrate in the last what happened is that the police gathered in order to terrorize the population of the village, the same thing they did in cairo. the population stormed the police station and the security headquarters there. while this was happening, they we

. >> and you met omar suleiman who is now talking to the opposition. did you say to him that you believe that president mubarak should go now? >> i had almost an hour with the vice president and that was one of the issue is. i think that the vice president and the prime minister have made the point not only to me but also publicly. this is not in the cards. they would like to see that the president's -- the president completes his term and then steps down. >> and if he does not steps down, do you fear for your country? >> i do. i do because i worry. if you look at it economically, what are the major resources in each of at this point? the suez canal? then if you're talking about tourism, all three are in danger. all three. that is one aspect. there is also the human aspect. i don't want to see the use of egypt being in a state of despair and being unhappy. they really need to be looking to a new future hopeful and for a great egypt. >> at the mother of twin girls who have been missing from their home in switzerland for more than a week has gone on tele

backing of omar suleiman next we'll tell you about a group of muslim protesters who were arrested for well for protesting at u.c. irvine but what are the first amendment some groups out there are crying foul claiming a bear as political motivation behind this case as the shallower will join me to discuss it and what about the big corporate elephant in the room the u.s. is still fighting a major unemployment problem and there are just blaming china for it but what if the problem really lies right here on u.s. soil firedoglake david dayton will join me to find out who's really responsible for the outsourcing of jobs also we have some breaking news there really is hope for this session of congress last night conservatives and democrats united in a rare move to vote down contentious provisions of the patriot act so could there really be hope of a bipartisan work being accomplished here in d.c. or is it just going to be a passing glimmer of hope reason magazine's matt welch will join me to talk about this astonishing moment in politics and make love not war that's a message sent by a sex s

>> they really just do not care about what omar suleiman does. they say they 1 hosni mubarak 2 lead. they are trying to put it upside down -- they say they want hosting a bar to leave. -- kosovar -- hosni mubarak to leave. most of the demonstrators are very skeptical. at the square, they were dancing, they made something with paper around his neck. "do not worry, i will not stay for 30 yrs." theyre basically making fun of suleiman. >> thank you so much again for those insights. in other news, the war crimes trial of the former liberian dictator has entered its final phase in the hague. and the closing arguments, they said that taylor bore the most responsibility for the eight problems in sierra leone in the 1990's. taylor denies the charges, which includes inside the murder and . after a brief adjournment, he refused to return to the koran. earlier, his lawyer walked out from the courtroom after they refused to accept me to documents. and one man said he ordered last month's deadly suicide bombing at moscow's international airport that left 36 pe

that man, omar suleiman, was suddenly thrust into the limelight. a man who had long been considered the second-most powerful man in egypt. a man trusted and respected by the powerful egyptian military and by egypt's most important ally, the united states. he has long been well-known in national security circles, for his discreet handling of his nation's most sensitive business. the key liaison between president mubarak and israel. and, with the united states, in its effort to grapple with al qaeda militants in the years since 9/11. now, he's the man president mubarak has asked to negotiate with the opposition in egypt. in the days that followed his appointment, amid mounting tension, the vice president has appeared twice on national television to make official statements. but today, the morning after the most violent night yet, as pro and anti-government demonstrators battled in tahrir square, vice president suleiman agreed to meet with us for a one-on-one interview in the presidential palace. i was just talking to president mubarak and he told me

and vice president omar suleiman had issued veiled threats about using police tools to end the protests. it rained. and a rainbow stretched over the city. a kind of symbol of this movement's persistent prom. inside the square, no backing down. the threats just racheted up the tension. many seemed poised for a fight. >> no. >> reporter: "we are going to behead him," this man told us. >> believe me, we have half a million soldiers in our army that we love and respect. if they turn on us, we'll turn only them. >> reporter: still, making our way through the protesters, their determination was dignified. their embrace of the moment, full of a sense of destiny. are you concerned about a crackdown, that the army may come in, that -- >> unfortunately, the people who are here are really like, you have to photo them, not me. the people who are here from the 25th, they died for us. that's why we are free to come here, we are not afraid, because they died. they died for us. that's why they give us our freedom. that's why we are not afraid anymore. >> reporter: there are rumors swirling around this

is omar suleiman, t new vice president, is he dictating to both? he was former... and probably still is chief of intelligence. we just don't know. and because the opposition has no defined leadership right now and defined agenda, there isn't one or two spokespeople you can go to on the other side and say "will this satisfy you? how about if we cut the salami here? will that satisfy you?" and i think that's one of the confusing things about the situation. >> rose: well, i think you said to me in a telephone call that the first person you talked to israel said "nothing is relevant again." i mean, everything is... that we thought is no longer relevant. and i understand that. >> you know, when you... >> rose: go ahead. >> you know, when you think, charlie, i mean, egypt really is the keystone of the whole arab world. and one reason the arab world has drifted in terms of social and economic development over the last 30 years, if you think of the heart of the arab world, egypt, saudi arabia, syria, iraq that kind of swath right down the middle, was because egypt drifted.

that plan is to fight president omar suleiman and have mubarak phase into the background, to have him become more of a symbolic leader. still with the title of president, but with day to day control of this country being passed to the vice president omar suleiman. the protesters say that's not enough. there are thousands of them on the streets today. so far the mood is angry and defiant, but it is not spiralling into violence. richard engel, nbc news, cairo. >>> back here at home president obama reacted to the news of mubarak's shift of some power with sharp criticism. in a statement the president questioned whether the latest concession is "immediate, meaningful, or sufficient sign of reform." tracie spoths potts is in washington with more on that. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> lynn, good morning. that speech was a huge disappointment here in the united states, as well. initially, president obama also was hopeful that he would step down and answer the call of these protesters, addressing the u.s. before mubarak's speech, president obama said that we were witnessing hist

but i did expect that he would more dramatically convey powers to omar suleiman. and the problem was, if you read the speech, there's a lot of sympathetic words for the people in the streets. there is a reform agenda, but it's about ten days too late and rather than making expectations low and then exceeding the expectations to get ahead of the crisis, they did just the opposite: expectations got way inflated and what they delivered was much less. so rather than being ahead of this crisis, they're now again behind. and their options as to how they go forward are consider brie narrowed. >> lehrer: what about the suggestion now that this thing was kind of a setup in a way? in other words, you... the military must act if the protestors take another step and it leads to violence, go after the palace, go after the radio, t.v. thing, and that... then the military reacts and everything would be justified, et cetera. >> well, i have no idea if it was a setup. but i do feel that we're getting to a point in which the options could become quite ominous because obviously tens

the announcement was made by the country's vice president, omar suleiman, on egyptian television. he said hosni mubarak decided to leave the position of the presidency and mubarak's last deed was to hand over control of the higher military council, consisting of egypt's top generals, considered to be the most powerful body in the country. that announcement has unleashed a wave of euphoria across the nation. many of the protestors have been camped out so they were looking forward to simply going home. stay with us. >> welcome back. you're watching dw-tv's special coverage of the historic events in egypt today. after 30 years of rule, hosni mubarak has relinquished power and handed over control to the country's military. the announcement unleashed a wave of euphoria across the nation. many of the protestors have have been camped out now for 18 days said they were relieved and looking forward to finally going home now that their demand that hosni mubarak resign has been met. the military council says it will make a statement shortly to make as it begins the process of change in egypt

government for the last thirty years now omar suleiman who he's essentially said he's handed over their responsibilities to someone that the u.s. supports so how much control does mubarak have well i think the problem is he's got yes men around the people who will tell the truth and the other side is i think that he can't believe that people are don't appreciate everything he's done for egypt and i think the role of the united states is maybe even worse you just want to look like you speak of being forced out at all and so i think today he thought well you know change the cost of two shootings which people don't like at all go away after the people of course of form and everybody will be happy not realizing that he himself was the issue yet at this point it's become a little too late just to change the constitution and the people but do you think the obama administration knew when earlier today obama was giving a speech and he said we're watching history unfold if it almost seems like they knew something was coming but then whatever was supposed to come over the rest of us were expectin

>> omar suleiman >> egyptians are not ready for democracy. the culture of democracy is -- >> still the vice president, okay? [audio not understandable] >> is the army running is it? >> it's certainly a combination of the army and suleiman. suleiman and after all heads up all their secret police, all their intelligence operations. it's been a key figure in israel -- excuse me, in egypt -- >> have the c.i.a. over there. >> yes, but much broader than. that the c.i.a. does not operate domestically in the united states. it does that kind of intelligence service does operate domestically in egypt. and he was a key player and the one that as you saw, that mubarak had confidence in, and frankly so does the military. he is a very shrewd, very tough- minded guy, and we'll see what happens. nobody knows what happened with the military. it's clear that he is not that far away from the military. they're still in control, of all the major sources of power. but once you deal with fear, once fear dispeas in this country, and hope takes place, you don't know

the opening of discussions between the vice president, omar suleiman, and representatives of the demonstrators got off to a start. there is some difference of view as to whether or not progress was made. some newspapers are reporting that in fact there was some movement forward, while others are a little bit less sing win. we are at a very early stage. i would be hesitant at trying to characterize those talks because they have a long way to go not only in trying to reach agreement, but at the beginning of implementation of anything that is agreed. >> obviously there are many issues, but from your perspective, what is most critical in terms of the to do list that needs to be accomplished if the talks are going to go anywhere? >> well, i think there are probably four or five things that really top the list. the first is to find out whether or not what president mubarak offered last week, which is he would remain in office until the next election in august and then retire, whether that is going to be acceptable to the demonstrators. right now we are at a stand-off on that issue. the military and

suleiman but not step down himself well as mubarak pointed out that the demands of the protesters were just eligible hundreds of thousands gathered at the where square shouting for his removal the eighty two year old also cited his reluctance to valve to international pressure something many believe he's done on a regular basis and has more from washington d.c. . the u.s. wants an orderly transition as they say president obama said hosni mubarak's statement on the transition of authority was not clear and needs more explanation mubarak basically said in his address that he was not going to run for president is a member and egyptians will have the chance to. whatever leader they choose but at any given time he said he was not going anywhere we spoke with senator ron paul earlier and he thinks mubarak is following washington's plan we had a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we own all these our puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he gives so much money he's gotten probably sixty to seventy billion dollars and i understand his fa

suleiman the egyptian people my age might not support this but they certainly are in agreement that they do not want to be dictated to from the united states from europe from anybody in the international community in terms of what they should do here now the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton as well as the u.s. vice president joe biden have spoken with the egyptian vice president almost sort of this too has been greeted with anger on the streets of cairo people here who are you to rating that call that it is their country and their decision in terms of what unfolds here my colleague your image in london took a look at how the international community and particularly the united states has been to. people here meddling in local domestic affairs. president obama started a my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful it must be peaceful and it must begin now and then faithfully one after the other one the other governments followed suit bind them and caught the show these democratic change has to start now. it needs to happen now for greater freedom and democracy in egy

cairo well omar suleiman recently appointed egypt's first ever vice president being hailed as a distinguished and respected politician details of how since surfaced about the darker side of a man he's led the country's intelligence agencies and spies in ninety three but even salt's from psychologists for things to responsibility in the u.s. says some opposition groups in egypt are way to put up with cinnamon's murky past. he was apparently the person that the us cia coordinated with in theirs read so-called extraordinary rendition program this is where they would kidnap the suspected terrorists around the world and send them to countries in the middle east egypt primary among them would get diplomatic assurances that the person wouldn't be tortured and then the person of course always was order on because the diplomatic assurances were essentially again be bited omar suleiman was the contact person and you need you for this he was the one who gave the assurance that and he is reportedly with he'd been present and involved in the sport for a few individuals is credible however with the u.s. go

i am quite sure that omar suleiman does not want to be president. in all my contacts with them, it does not seem to be his style. he is quite happy to be in the background to be a loyal participant in running the state, but not a leader. he is not try to take the position on for himself. he is a wonderful man and a lot of fun. his wife does not want him to be president of egypt. it is not an easy job. so, the reception of the military still seems to be solid. they still have that position that they can influence the future. certainly our secretary of defense and our military figures, the people who have worked with the egyptian for years, have been in constant contact. the relationship is so tight and the french ships are tied -- friendship so tight, that we have good relations with the military. not so with the security forces. the military is where we have our primary support. i do not worry about the future if they have a place in whatever comes next. the administration is being careful most of the time. they do not want to get out in front of th