Mohamed ElBaradei (AP)
WASHINGTON — Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei yesterday said it was a “farce” for the Obama administration to think there could be a smooth transition of power with September elections.
ElBaradei — a Nobel Peace laureate who has emerged amid the turmoil as the face of Egypt’s “revolution” — said Washington has gravely misread the level of discontent in his nation, and continues to underestimate its people’s determination to oust President Hosni Mubarak immediately.
“The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years will be the one to implement democracy,” ElBaradei, former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
NEW YORK STUDENT’S FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF HELL IN CAIRO
AMERICANS WARNED TO MAKE FAST EXODUS
VIDEO: ELBARADEI SPEAKS IN EGYPT
“This is really a farce. I mean, people here could be poor, but they’re intelligent.
“Yesterday, it was the call for [Mubarak] to leave. Today, it’s a call for him to be put to trial,” ElBaradei said. “If Washington didn’t see that coming, then there was something wrong with their perception of what was going on in Egypt.”
Still, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked a fine line between backing Mubarak and calling for the overthrow of his autocratic regime.
BENNY AVNI: THE WAY AHEAD IN EGYPT
JOHN PODHORETZ: IT’S NEVER BEEN ABOUT PALESTINE
“We have been very clear that we want to see a transition to democracy. And we want to see the kind of steps taken that will bring that about. We also want to see an orderly transition,” she told “Fox News Sunday.”
Clinton said she didn’t think “anyone is satisfied” with the steps Mubarak has taken so far to address the protesters’ grievances, which include a lack of political and economic freedom.
She praised the Egyptian military for not forcefully putting down the protests, and acknowledged the need to quell looting and other crime.
“There are many, many steps along the journey that has been started by the Egyptian people themselves,” she said. “We wish to support that.”
The developments came as President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates phoned their Mideast counterparts amid fears that the unrest in Egypt could undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the general stability in the region.
Obama yesterday called British Prime Minister David Cameron after having phoned Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia a day earlier.
In their first public discussion of the protests, Israeli leaders spoke cautiously.
“Israel and Egypt have been at peace for more than three decades, and our objective is to ensure that these ties be preserved,” Netanyahu said.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said it had become clear that Mubarak must go.
“Mubarak cannot continue in the long term with the oppressive regime he’s had now,” Schumer told CNN’s “State of the Union.”