Today belongs to the people of Egypt," President Obama said in a press conference Friday that was broadcast live in the United States and Egypt.
"There are very few moments in our lives where we have the priviledge to witness history taking place. This is one of those moments," the president said.
"The people of Egypt have spoken; their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same," he said. "By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people's hunger for change...but this is not the end of Egypt's transition. It's a beginning."
He praised the Egyptian military for acting responsibly, and said it now
needs to help ensure a credible transition. Among other things, Egyptian authorities need to end emergency rule and ensure the enactment of key legal reforms, Obama said.
"Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day," he said.
"This is the power of human dignity, it can never be denied... for Egypt, it was the moral force of non-violence, not terrorism, not mindless killing... that bent the arc of history toward justice once more," he said.
You couldn't be more wrong. Can you imagine what would've happened to minorities in Rwanda, or the Balkans, or Iran or Iraq quite recently if they didn't own guns? Oh wait, they didn't, you can't. Cause they're dead.
