Obama welcomes Egypt transition

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Friday welcomed the
peaceful transition of power in Egypt with the resignation of
longtime President Hosni Mubarak. ``The people of Egypt have spoken.
Their voices have been heard. And Egypt will never be the same,'' he
declared.

   In brief remarks at the White House, the president noted that it
was ``not the end of Egypt's transition, it's a beginning.'' He said
that many important questions remain to be resolved and difficult
times lie ahead.

   ``I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers,'' Obama
said. He spoke hours after Mubarak stepped aside, turning authority
over to the military. It was a turnaround from the night before,
when the Egyptian leader defiantly refused to give up his title.

   Said Obama: ``Egyptians have inspired us, and they've done so by
putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained by
violence.''

   ``For Egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence, not
terrorism, not mindless killing, but nonviolence, moral force, that
bent the arc of history toward justice.''

   Obama singled out the military for praise, saying it helpfully
served as a ``caretaker'' in defusing the situation and securing the
country.

   ``We saw a military that would not fire bullets at the people
they were sworn to protect,'' he said. But, he added a note of
warning. The military, he said, will have to ``ensure a transition
that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.''

   He said that means lifting Egypt's hated 30-year-old police
powers laws, revising the constitution and enacting other safeguards
to ``make this change irreversible'' and set the path for free and
fair elections.

   Obama began his remarks by noting that ``President Mubarak
responded to the Egyptian people's hunger for change.'' That was the
only time he mentioned the resigned president.

   Obama said he is confident that a democratic Egypt can assert its
role as an influential player in the Mideast and beyond.