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American Morning

Fury in Cairo; Sparks Fly at CPAC; Egypt's Impact on Your Money; Egypt at This Moment

Aired February 11, 2011 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Six a.m. on the East Coast this morning; 1:00 p.m. in Cairo where a day of prayer has turned to a day of fury. We're watching a pivotal day in Egypt unfold right now. People pouring on the streets by the thousands after their president enraged them even more. Was it a mistake in the message or is President Hosni Mubarak digging in?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Many people thought today was going to be the day of liberation. It turned out to be a slap in the face. President Mubarak doing a bit of a sidestep rather than stepping down.

CHETRY: Also, he shocked everyone, including the White House -- Hosni Mubarak playing up national pride and poking the U.S. in his speech. Now, the pressure is on our president. Did his administration miss some signs?

(MUSIC)

CHETRY: And good morning to you. It is Friday, February 11th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

HOLMES: Hello to you. I'm T.J. Holmes, top of the hour, 6:00 a.m. here in New York. It is 1:00 p.m. in Cairo.

That's where we want to take you now. Pictures are coming to us out of Tahrir Square. This is the 18th day of protests now. You can see there in this live picture, you see flags waving. You hear people chanting. This is expected to be another big day of demonstrations. Maybe the biggest ones we have seen yet because these crowds might be angrier than they have ever been.

Shock waves felt throughout Cairo all of the way back to Washington, D.C. after the president, President Mubarak teased the crowd a bit all day yesterday. There were reports that possibly he would be stepping down. All of the anticipation built up to the speech he would make to the country yesterday and when he did, he disappointed. He did not step down like many had anticipated. Instead, he said he would just step to the side a little more, if you will, and allow his vice president to take over more powers but still, that is not what the protesters wanted.

And we are getting a new development this morning from the military. The all-important military there in Egypt saying that now, they back what Mubarak is doing. They back him at least staying in power until September but also saying they will guarantee some of the promises being made. They were calling for an end to emergency rule which has been in place some 30 years there in Egypt, but only when the current crisis passes. Also, they are ensuring justice in the court cases on disputed parliamentary seats; also ensuring free presidential elections when they do come up in September.

CHETRY: And hopes were raised as we've been saying in dashed as President Mubarak decided not to resign, choosing instead to transfer powers to his handpicked Vice President Omar Suleiman, which makes him the de facto president, however, technically speaking, Mubarak is still president of Egypt.

But let's look at where these powers break down. Here's what Vice President Suleiman has right now: oversight of the police, the interior ministry, other key agencies including the military, control of economic policy, and also running any key negotiations that will be taking place with the opposition. As for Mubarak, he retains what many say are very key powers -- three constitutional powers: the power to dismiss parliament, to dismiss the government, and also to ask for amendments to the constitution.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, the Mubarak speech let a lot of people down -- so much anticipation for hours throughout the day yesterday. There were reports he would be stepping down. There seemed to be momentum going that direction and then the air was let out of the room. Disappointment for the people in Tahrir Square and many around Egypt when he, in fact, said he would not step down, just again sidestep a little bit.

Our Frederik Pleitgen live for us in Cairo now.

Frederik, hello once again. And is there any way -- I'm trying my best to put this in perspective for people just how disappointing yesterday was.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Disappointing, and it just made people absolutely angry. I went down to Tahrir Square yesterday right before Hosni Mubarak's speech and there were people coming up to me who were saying this is the day that freedom is born in Egypt. This is the day that Egypt comes to life.

And then, of course, all of that as the speech was going on, I remember listening to it and looking at people's faces -- and everyone was in such anticipation. They were thinking is the announcement going to come down, will it come now.

But it didn't come and people were just very, very angry after the speech. They came up to me. They said that they were absolutely enraged and they would never leave until Hosni Mubarak steps down, that they wanted to march on the presidential palace which, of course, ultimately, a lot of people did, that they wanted to march on the houses of parliament. Again, they, of course, also marched on the information ministry.

So, it really is hard to say how angry people are right now. They are absolutely enraged. And you can see that by the size of the crowd that's already turned up here.

It's 1:00 p.m. here in Cairo right now and the crowd is as big as I've seen it so far, and there are still a lot of people waiting to get into Tahrir Square, T.J.

HOLMES: Frederik, we're looking at this crowd as you're looking at this crowd right now. But you have seen these crowds up close and personal for the past few weeks now. The mood -- you talk about angry. We see flags waving and we're hearing and, in some ways, it appears at least from our vantage point festive at times.

But you would describe that scene as an angry one? And also address whether or not there are any pro-Mubarak supporters to be seen in Cairo right now or anywhere close to where you are?

PLEITGEN: There's none close to where I am. I mean, the pro- Mubarak protesters have pretty vanished off the streets over the past couple of days. However, they are still around. I mean, there's still definitely neighborhoods in Cairo that you drive through and you see signs that say "we are pro-stability" or "Mubarak is pro- stability." So, there are still obviously people who do support him.

People down there, there's not a single pro-Mubarak protester out there -- at least none that's openly saying that he's pro-Mubarak. And, yes, I would say that people are very angry. They made a point yesterday to me to say that, yes, they are angry but they are not going to use violence, or they're going to try to not use violence to the extent that they can.

They want to keep this peaceful because many of them actually believe the announcement that Hosni Mubarak made yesterday was one to try to enrage them to the point where there would be violence so that then you could launch a crackdown. They do believe that there's some sort of conspiracy behind that. That may be true or not, but they say they certainly believe that as long as they keep this movement angry but peaceful, they have much more power in their hands than if you see rioting in the streets of Cairo, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Our Frederik Pleitgen in Cairo for us -- Frederik, we appreciate you as always. We'll check in with you throughout the morning.

CHETRY: Should chaos and confusion that we're seeing in the streets of Egypt make its way to the White House as well, where they're still trying to make sense of President Mubarak's decision to cling to power.

Our Kate Bolduan is live at the White House this morning.

And it appeared the White House was caught off guard yesterday by what transpired. What are you hearing this morning?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran.

Well, the president -- it's very interesting day to be following the president. I was traveling with him yesterday to Marquette, Michigan. Late into the evening, President Obama, when he returned to the White House, was in meetings with his national security team. You take a look at yesterday afternoon when President Obama was speaking to the crowd in Marquette, Michigan, he seemed quite hopeful that President Mubarak would go quite a bit further than he actually did. President Obama saying to the crowd there that we are witnessing history unfold and that this is a moment of transformation.

Then, by the evening, a decidedly different tone and unusually lengthy statement that the president put out -- it's almost a point by point, almost rebuttal to President Mubarak's statement -- President Mubarak's message. I'll read you just a portion of it that the president put out.

President Obama is saying, "Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world." President Obama goes on to say, "The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity."

I think we can clearly that President Mubarak's message yesterday and his remarks not well received here at the White House.

And I'll tell, Kiran, we'll be watching very closely today. The president's schedule is really wide open. Nothing on his public schedule to see what, how, if the tone changes. Remember, still, President Obama and this White House has not come out to call for the immediate resignation of President Mubarak, saying the future of Egypt is in the hands of the Egyptian people. We'll see what kind of tone that the president takes today -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Kate Bolduan for us this morning with all of that -- we'll check in with you throughout the morning. Thanks so much.

BOLDUAN: OK.

CHETRY: We want to get perspective now. James Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state. He is now the executive director of "Bloomberg View," overseeing editorials put out by the Bloomberg news service.

Welcome.

And Mona Eltahawy, a columnist on Arab and Muslim issues, born in Egypt and has lived there off and off. And she supports the protesters and has been in constant contact with some of them throughout all of this.

Good to see you as well.

I want to get your take, both of you, on the news that just came out literally within the last 15 minutes that the military chiefs -- and we were expecting to hear from them in Egypt -- said they would back President Hosni Mubarak's decision to remain in office as part of this gradual transfer of power. Is this -- how significant?

JAMES RUBIN, FMR. U.S. ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it's significant only in the sense that yesterday there was a brief moment where people thought maybe the military was going to take charge and Mubarak would leave the country or leave office fully, and there was going to be soft coup d'etat in which the military would be in power the way they had been in the past revolutions.

But I think, in general terms, this is consistent with what has gone for the last several weeks. The military doesn't want to use force. They don't want to crack down against their own people. But they do support President Mubarak. He was an air force general. His vice president is a military official as well.

And I think what we're seeing is the military and Mubarak have gone as far as they can go. They are creating a situation where Mubarak has no more real power -- all of the real power is in the hands of his vice president, Suleiman. The changes to the constitution that are required to have a free and fair election are now being put forward.

The steps that the people wanted are being taken, but -- and this is a big "but" -- for purposes of dignity or ego or whomever or whatever, President Mubarak is going to stay in Egypt and not formally give up office and not be humiliated. And that's where things stand and it still could get very tense.

CHETRY: So, it would seem, the way he described it, that this is a good thing. Yet we're seeing what is being billed as perhaps the largest protest of the past 18 days. Why is this not enough?

MONA ELTAHAWY, COLUMNIST: Everybody I know in Egypt is really disappointed with the armed forces because although they seemed at first to be neutral and created this buffer basically between Mubarak thugs and these peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators, that neutrality clearly placed them on Mubarak's side. And this latest statement now has made it even more overt that they are on Mubarak's side.

But up until yesterday, up until the very last moment, most Egyptians I know were pleading with armed forces to choose Egypt over Mubarak. Thousands upon thousands of Egyptians have already told the president, we have no more confidence in you, but even more importantly, no confidence in Omar Suleiman either, because he's the designated vice president. And they see both of them representing a regime that they detest.

So, they wanted the armed forces to choose Egypt or these young people out there, the future of the country, and instead, the armed forces chose the president -- chose Mubarak. And all the tweets following coming out of Tahrir Square and other parts of Egypt, excuse me, were saying, you know, this is not what we've been waiting for. But significantly, the armed forces issued the statement that was read by a TV presenter and not by armed forces, while people were at Friday prayer. So, they knew this would be disappointing. So, they basically kind of snuck it in there while everybody was in prayers and doing Friday prayers.

All the imams who lead the sermons, most of the ones that I was hearing from and this is very interesting, was saying in their sermon, "We support the revolution and what you're doing, the pro-democracy demonstrators, is something good and pure. You're purifying the country."

Just four or five weeks ago, as Egypt watching Tunisia go through its uprising -- all these clerics are state-appointed clerics. They were told -- they were issued demands to say that overthrowing the leader is bad, to not to try to copy what was happening in Tunisia. So, now that we're seeing all these clerics across much in Egypt is saying the revolution is good and now, the armed forces is saying we're taking sides of Mubarak, people are really taking sides now.

A famous football player has sided with the revolutionary. So, it's a real turning point in Egypt.

HOLMES: All right. We're going to be talking to you throughout the morning. You're kind enough to join us. We're expecting many developments throughout the morning. So, we're certainly not done with you guys. Appreciate having both of your expertise here.

We're going to move on for now. But again, Jamie and Mona are here with us throughout the morning for a lot more.

CHETRY: Thanks.

HOLMES: We're also going to be checking with our Jill Dougherty over at the State Department about how the Obama administration, many saying, got this just flat out wrong. She's coming up in about 15 minutes.

CHETRY: So, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to continue to follow all the developments in Egypt.

Also when we come back, sparks flying on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. Dick Cheney, Donald Trump getting cheers and boos from conservatives.

Fourteen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back.

We want to update you on the story we brought you yesterday about that gas line explosion that took place in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as they still look for a cause, unfortunately we know now that there were more victims. Five people killed in that blast Wednesday night including a 4 month old. The explosion leveled eight houses.

Police say that one of the victims is still unaccounted for and they are trying to figure out how it happened. They - they do believe that the gas main lacked shutoff valves. HOLMES: Well, you sue me, I'll sue you back. That is what Arizona is doing right now, countersuing the federal government. Claiming that the federal government has failed to protect and enforce immigration law. The Obama administration you may remember did sue the state last summer over its controversial immigration law. The governor there, Jan Brewer, says no taxpayer funds are going to be spent on this countersuit and they have an effort underway now to raise money from private donors.

CHETRY: Well, it's day two of the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington known as CPAC. It features the who's who of Republican hopefuls for 2012. And today's speakers include Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Ron Paul. There was a raucous atmosphere as the Conservative gathering kicked off yesterday with cheers and boos for a couple of GOP giants. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DICK CHENEY, FMR. VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: All right. Sit down and shut up.

DONALD TRUMP, BUSINESS TYCOON: Frankly, I wish there was a candidate that I saw that would be fantastic because I love what I'm doing. In fact, I have a great club that's 15 minutes away. By the way, Ron Paul cannot get elected I'm sorry to tell you. Sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: Donald Trump saying he's considering a 2012 run and, of course, with some choice words for some of the other potential candidates. Ron Paul's son, Rand, took issue with what he said. We'll show you that a little bit later as well.

Huge icicles leading to highway hazards in Oklahoma City. Police and firefighters working to clear them from bridges before the morning rush. I mean, look at those things. The icicles were caused by a broken pipe along the pedestrian bridge. I-235, that's the main interstate there, shut down during the cleanup, but is back open now at this hour.

HOLMES: Also, let's go to our Rob Marciano now, keeping an eye on what the weekend travel, anything that's going to get people fit so did we get all that nastiness out of here?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, we got a lot of the nastiness out of here. I mean, it's still nasty cold out. You saw just how - how chilly it is in Oklahoma. The map behind me shows you that it's pretty much below freezing east of the Continental Divide and all of the way down to pretty much I-10.

Even - even Houston is below freezing. Hard freeze warnings out for Southeast Texas; 25 degrees currently in Houston; it's 22 in Dallas and 14 degrees in Memphis; colder on other spots there; 19 in Jackson and 20 degrees in Birmingham. So just - still bitterly cold out there although the wind chills this morning aren't nearly what they were yesterday. And Chicago is downright balmy compared to where they were at this time yesterday; 10 degrees above zero; minus seven now still in Madison.

And then the trend is going to be a slightly warming one, although you probably wouldn't feel much of it today; 35 degrees expected in New York City, that's pretty much status quo for you folks; 28 degrees, that is warmer in Chicago, but not very melting like; and 48 degrees in Dallas. That is definitely on the upswing. And temperatures will be much warmer than that in the next few days.

So we'll talk about the warming trend just how toasty it's going to get. Doesn't that sound good - doesn't that sound good, guys?

CHETRY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Toasty. Warmer.

CHETRY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Good. Details in 30 minutes.

CHETRY: OK.

HOLMES: Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: Sounds good, but we'll tell you more about why. Thanks, Rob.

HOLMES: Also coming up this morning, we're keeping a close eye on what's happening in Egypt today. A day that many thought would be a day of liberation has turned into a day of anger after the president there, President Mubarak, teased the people in a way they were thinking he was going to step down yesterday but he did not.

It's 21 minutes past the hour. Stay with us. We'll let you know how this is affecting us right here at home as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: All right. There's a look at Egypt's Tahrir Square right now. We're on day 18. They're expecting even more protesters out. And meantime, investors are keeping a close eye on what's happening in the events in Egypt, how it will affect world markets.

Our Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" this morning. So we saw - really, I mean, the one thing you always talk about is that Wall Street hates instability.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.

CHETRY: And we have so many mixed messages yesterday. There was a time when we thought Hosni Mubarak was going to step down as president.

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: It turns out not to be the case. How did that affect the market? ROMANS: You can see it in the stocks, because early in the morning you had Cisco and some technology companies that disappointed Wall Street and the stocks fell. And then when news came - reports came that he was going to step down, Hosni Mubarak, the stock market started to recover and people thought that this was going to be instability or uncertainty in the Middle East that was going to be put to rest.

And then, as he began speaking, 15 minutes before the closing bell, traders and investors were watching sort of inexplicably trying to figure out is he or isn't he. And it really wasn't even clear by the closing bell whether he was going to step down, so that uncertainty came right back in the market and the Dow is down a little bit.

Now, keep in mind, stocks are up very, very strongly over the past year. So you often have investors, big investors, small investors and the market looking for reasons to - to take profits too. So they're a little skittish and looking for reasons to cash out something that they've - that they've gained over the past year and they - and they want to stay on the sidelines.

So that could be another thing here, not necessarily the fundamentals of what's going on in Egypt, but more likely, you know, the Dow is up something like 80 - 80 percent over the past year, any little reason to sell stocks they'll take.

So Asian markets ended mixed overnight. We're looking for a clue there. Again, still investors around the world trying to figure out if this is going to mean something for them.

Oil prices rose. We'll continue to watch oil prices. That's some place where you can see the effects of what's going on in the Middle East clearly.

But we always say, you know, markets don't like uncertainty. And over the past 17, 18 days, some days investors have been able to disregard what's happening in Egypt. Other days like yesterday, which is probably a pivotal day in this whole struggle for the people in the square, that was a pretty big day on the news flow, and so that was something that was being watched very carefully and today we will track it again.

HOLMES: All right. Christine, thank you.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HOLMES: We'll talk to you throughout the morning.

And as she said, today could be a pivotal day. It's pivotal because things changed in Egypt this morning. They were anticipating a day of liberation. They got something much different. President Mubarak digging in and so are the protestors. We are live in Egypt throughout the morning.

Stay with us here on this AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: So welcome back to this AMERICAN MORNING. Bottom of the hour here, 6:30 Eastern Time in the East. It is 1:30 in the afternoon in Cairo right now.

Tell you what's happening there right now. Some of our correspondents saying these are some of the biggest crowds they have seen in all of these days of protests. Live picture we can show you here of Tahrir Square where people have literally been camped out there for days. You see some of those tents got to set-up around there.

It's taken on the look of a fairground at some times, but not a lot festive there right now. They are as angry as they have been in all of these protests after President Mubarak teased them a bit yesterday. Many anticipated him stepping down in a speech he made yesterday. Rather he just said he was stepping to the side a bit more, giving more power to the Vice President.

Also, the Egyptian military ensuring free elections but refusing to end the emergency rule during this crisis. But that is a key development this morning, that the military coming out and making a statement, saying they are supporting Mubarak's staying in power. But still, they will ensure some of the reforms that have been suggested.

CHETRY: Yes. So, what does it mean exactly? What does he keep hold of and what does he pass on? Basically, Omar Suleiman is de facto president at this point: oversight of police, military, interior ministry, key agencies. He runs control of economic policy and any negotiations that will be taking place down the road with opposition.

However, President Mubarak still officially the president holds onto three constitutional powers: the power to dismiss the parliament, to dismiss the government and to ask for amendments to the constitution -- and this is what protesters say blocks any real reform.

HOLMES: And also, everyone -- and I do mean everyone -- was expecting President Mubarak to step down, including the White House, including the State Department and other administration officials. They were out speaking publicly about it yesterday. Again, it sounded like they were anticipating him stepping down but they were caught off guard it seems by this as well.

Now, they are criticizing the president for not offering that concrete path to democracy. We'll be checking in with the State Department here in just a moment.

CHETRY: So, we're talking about tensions running high this morning in Cairo. You can see for yourself those huge crowds -- protesters very angry about Mubarak's speech last night and it wasn't his last as president.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is live in Cairo this morning.

And let's get to some of those big developments. The fact that the Egyptian military had that announcement this morning that they indeed support Hosni Mubarak and Hosni Mubarak staying in power until the transfer can take place. How is that being received this morning, Frederik?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not very well. But, on the other hand, people didn't expect the military to step in that forcefully at this point in time and certainly, there were some things that the military have said to sort of try to smooth things over.

Basically, what it seems is going on right now is that military is trying to tell the people, especially those down there, of course, that they still support this course of change and of transition. However, they also want this to happen in a timely manner which, of course, then means that Hosni Mubarak will at least for the time being stay in power. That's something that is not going down very well with the people down there.

They don't blame the military, however, Kiran. They blame only Hosni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman. And certainly, if you look down at the people right now, that's who they are directing their anger against.

You're hearing the chants behind me. They are screaming "Hosni Mubarak illegitimate." And you're right, the crowds are absolutely massive. I've never seen them this large this early in the day. And when I look down from my vantage point, I see that at the entrances to Tahrir Square, those are absolutely packed.

So, more and more people are coming here. There was also a big procession that just ended a couple minutes ago where a lot of people, some of them who had lost relatives in the protests to the shooting and the rioting that was going on here had now made their way from a mosque to Tahrir Square to further increase that crowd. It's absolutely huge.

So, we'll wait and see how things develop here in Cairo -- certainly a day where everyone is on the edge, Kiran.

CHETRY: Frederik Pleitgen, saying he's never seen crowds this large this early. We'll see what the day brings, but we'll continue to follow it and check in with you throughout the show. Thanks, Frederik.

HOLMES: And those crowds you're seeing there, they anticipated Mubarak stepping down. The media yesterday reporting the reports out there that Mubarak would step down. It also appears that Washington, D.C., including the president, State Department officials were expecting him to step down. So, what went wrong?

Let me bring in our State Department correspondent, our Jill Dougherty live for us this morning at our D.C. bureau.

Jill, good morning to you. Am I -- is it fair to say, yes, everybody got this wrong? It's one thing for the media to get it wrong. But how could the State Department, the Obama administration, not know as well?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the indications, at least of U.S. officials were saying, that there were real indications coming from specific places, namely the head of the ruling party was saying he was going to step down. The military had issued a communique saying they were going to intervene to save the country. And they were saying, again, that there were indications coming out of there that he indeed was going to do that.

I think, T.J., part of it is he may have changed his mind, as one official said. It's not inconceivable that he might have hardened his position, that's President Mubarak. And then also, you know, when you interpret this, you can say, yes, he's now a figurehead. So, in effect, he stepped down, he's no longer ruling the country, but technically he's still there.

So, there's a lot of unclear stuff here.

HOLMES: Jill, on one point there, is it possible -- how much are they telling you on that point that it's possible that Mubarak and his government actually giving indications behind the scenes that he would go and then he just flipped it up on them last minute? Is that possible?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that appears to be. But, you know, T.J., in this rapidly changing situation, signals coming from one person can be interpreted by another and also, there is a lot of ambiguity. Now, some say it might deliberate ambiguity as to what is happening, like who retains what powers. It's not as clear, even as we've been trying to indicate.

Some people -- there's one person, the ambassador, who said those three powers that Mubarak has actually he doesn't have them. They are still retained by the constitution. So, I think you need a law degree to figure this out.

HOLMES: SO, Jill, what's the next step -- if you can wrap this up for me? What is the next step? How do they proceed if they don't know who has most of the power over there?

DOUGHERTY: You know, if you look at the statements from President Obama last night, essentially, he's throwing it back at Mubarak and saying, you explain it because it's so unclear. You explain it to your people, number one, what do you mean by, you know, transitioning and explain it to the international community, too. So, I think they are just waiting to see how this government is going to function and what's going to happen next.

HOLMES: Well, I guess we'll all brush up on the Egyptian constitution to try to figure this thing out. Jill Dougherty, good to see you this morning. We'll chat with you plenty throughout the morning.

CHETRY: And with the situation in Egypt growing more tense, you can feel the impact throughout other countries in the Middle East.

Rima Maktabi is getting reaction from Lebanon for us. She's live in Beirut.

Have there been public statements from leaders there about what they are seeing in Egypt?

RIMA MAKTABI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, at least two public statements. If we look (AUDIO BREAK) not once friends for Mubarak among the protesters. But his friends are Arab governments and leaders. The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia condemned yesterday when he called interference in Egypt's internal affairs. Before that, the foreign minister of UAE, of the UAE, visited Cairo and met Mubarak himself and he was among the few people to see Mubarak in such critical times.

Arab leaders and regimes and governments are worried if Mubarak steps down now and he leaves the stage to any other military or Muslim Brotherhood or other option, they fear that their regimes will be in jeopardy and their leadership -- and I'm talking about Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, possibly Lebanon, Yemen and other countries that may be in fear. And the Arab leaders think that the whole region will go into chaos and it's worth noting that these leaders are major allies to the U.S. -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Rima Maktabi for us getting reaction today from Beirut -- thank you so much.

Also this morning, the BBC claiming Iran is jamming its Persian language TV broadcasts following their rolling coverage of anti- government protests in Egypt. Iranian authorities are also accused of blocking reformist Web sites and detaining opposition supporters. These arrests come after Iran's opposition leader called for a rally Monday in support of the uprising in North Africa and the Middle East.

HOLMES: And again, just to remind, you we are just about 1:40 in the afternoon in Cairo. We're keeping a close eye on what's happening there. As you know as well, during these whole protests, social media had so much to do with them organizing the protests, but what's the role it's playing now in keeping the youth motivated there?

Quick break. We are right back. Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Forty-one minutes past the hour now.

Another live picture of Tahrir Square where some of our correspondents are saying the crowd in some respects larger than we have seen in all of these protests and also, this crowd is as angry as we have ever seen in these protests after President Mubarak -- a lot of people would say -- teased the people a little bit. Indications were he might step down but made an address last night and made it clear he was not stepping down. So like both sides are digging in once again. But, again, angry protestors once again as you see there in the streets.

CHETRY: We want to get perspective now from activist Nasser Weddady. He joins us this morning. He's a civil rights outrage director for the American Islamic Congress.

Welcome.

NASSER WEDDADY, ACTIVIST, AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: I know you've been following all of this very closely, particularly the social media component of this as well. And you say that you're very nervous right now for what's going on in Egypt.

WEDDADY: I am very nervous because I see that the Egyptian regime is trying to make the public basically have them run in circles. And they are not taking -- listening to the voice of reason. They seem to be a little bit like a rogue regime. They're not even listening to their biggest ally, the United States, which had made it very clear that Mubarak's time has come and that he needs to step down.

Now, there is though -- despite me being nervous on tactical things, I'm looking at the bigger picture -- stepping back looking at the entire context. And that what we're seeing here is ultimately a revolution in affairs in mindsets and thinking because the people of Egypt clearly have embraced nonviolence strategies and have absorbed that thinking.

And I know that because my colleague (INAUDIBLE), through our Cairo office, been working since 2006 and I myself have been going to the region consistently and working with the youth -- and I have seen it firsthand that we're seeing a generational shift.

These people are not going to give up. They want freedom. They think that it's their God-given right and the President Mubarak of Egypt is swimming against the tide of history here.

HOLMES: Is there going to be a split at all yet? I mean, what else do they want? It appears at least he's giving up so much power. He's a figurehead some would argue.

There are some who are starting to say, OK, we did a good job. We got what we wanted. We can hold on until September. Is there starting to have people split?

WEDDADY: That's not my sense because

HOLMES: Not at all?

WEDDADY: -- actually that's part of the maneuvering of the regime. It would have worked two weeks ago before 400 people -- peaceful protestors were shot dead. But now, it's not going to work now because General Omar Suleiman is as tainted as Mubarak by the blood of the peaceful protesters.

CHETRY: So, in their mind, there is really no difference. I mean, this whole split of power saying Suleiman has controlled over this and Mubarak has just know that --

WEDDADY: Yes, there's actually a trap right there. You see, one of the central demands of protesters is lifting the 30-year state of emergency.

CHETRY: Right. They say they're -- military says they're going to do that.

WEDDADY: Yes. Well, they say so. They can claim that all they want. But on paper, Omar Suleiman, since he is the de facto ruler, cannot dismiss parliament. He cannot get parliament to lift the laws.

So, they are trying -- the regime is trying not only to work -- to fool the Egyptians but also, they are trying to create a perception and sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of the international public opinion. And it's not working because these people in Tahrir Square are going anywhere anytime soon.

HOLMES: There was so much talk about social networking in the beginning, in organizing some of this, and getting the ball rolling. At this point, is social networking still playing as large of a role in organizing, communicating? Or is this thing taken a whole life of its own there?

WEDDADY: The jury is still out on that one. In terms of triggering and getting the people to come out in the streets and protest, they didn't need social media for that. They didn't need Facebook or Twitter. Mubarak has been doing a fine job of antagonizing the Egyptian people for 30 years. However, he played an instrumental role in the sense that the youth, themselves, had an avenue, sort of a tactical place where they could organize and think collectively and build on past experiences and figure out the next steps.

That has been done, but social media is still playing an interesting role. For example, one of the top activists in Egypt which, by the way, your correspondents have interviewed last week, Rana Rauf (ph). Rana Rauf (ph) (INAUDIBLE) the defense of protestors. What they do is that they keep track through -- keeping track of SMS messages coming from protesters who get detained.

They verify their whereabouts. They disseminate the information via the internet. Then, they send information to lawyers and doctors. They march them to places of detentions, police stations, hospitals so that protesters are not going to disappear in the system as they used to be. That's an example of social media, and the internet has been working.

But again, you have to give it to the dedication and the courage, not only of those like sort of top activists who, you know, speak English and look cool. Ultimately, it is those young people by the millions who are becoming a collective set of intelligence that is constantly thinking, adapting, and moving ahead of the regime. The regime is always a step behind.

HOLMES: Wasser, we appreciate you. We're going to be talking to you again throughout the morning.

WEDDADY: Absolutely.

HOLMES: But we appreciate you as we continue our coverage.

CHETRY: Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it.

All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Rob is going to be along with the forecast for us, and we'll continue to follow Egypt, and we're going to see whether there's anything better in store for us for the weekend. It could be a major change in storm for most of the country. Forty-seven minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: Welcome back to this AMERICAN MORNING. Ten at the top of the hour. Just almost two o'clock in Cairo. Live picture here in Tahrir Square where people, once again, gathered. Some of the biggest crowds we have seen in these protests, and some of the angriest crowds, as well. Yesterday, many people had their hopes up that maybe that would be the day that Mubarak would step down. He had a televised speech that actually televised, and the anticipation was he would step down.

In fact, he did not. He just handed up over some of his power to the vice president, but that was not good enough for a lot of these protesters who have now seem to be emboldened by that move and seemed to be fired up once again. One of the largest protests, some of our correspondents, saying we have seen in some time, but we're keeping a close eye on Egypt today.

CHETRY: This is also really interesting. Mohamed ElBaradei who has, perhaps, been one of the leading opposition voices said or tweet after not tweeting since last night and said the entire nation is on the streets. Only way out is for regime to go. People power won't be crushed. We shall prevail. Still hope army can join. So, pretty interesting, and we're going to continue to follow that.

Meantime, it is 50 minutes past the hour. We're taking a look at a new weather pattern across the country this morning. Rob Marciano is following it for us. We're hoping to get a little bit of calm after all of the snow, the ice, the wind chills, the bitter temperatures.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I got something to show you guys. Are you ready for this?

CHETRY: Yes.

MARCIANO: Take a look at this. There's the radar. How quiet is that?

CHETRY: You forgot to put the radar up. It must be -- it can't be -- that can't be real.

MARCIANO: That's it. I mean, a couple of sprinkles down there across parts of Florida, but that is about it. I mean, just really, really quiet this morning, but it's still way, way to cold. It's 19, 20 degrees in Dallas. Below freezing all the way down to Galveston. So, we've got hard freeze warnings out for the Texas coastline. Temperatures in Memphis struggling to get to the 10-degree mark.

Nashville right now in the 12-degree mark. So, it's definitely very, very chilly, but overall trend is slightly a warming one. If you are traveling today, some wind in Newark. You probably see some delays there, and the rain showers in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale will make for some delays there. Daytime highs today, definitely on the rebound. Twenty-eight degrees sounds pretty warm, but not terribly warmer but warmer than it has been. Forty-eight degrees in Dallas and 55 degrees in Houston. Here's how the pattern is going to shift.

This trough has really been unleashing that cold air across much of the south and east is beginning to migrate its ways to the north. Warmer air coming in. Temperatures places that set all-time record lows like in Oklahoma where it was minus 30 could very well be in the 70s by the middle of next week. How does that sound? Back to you guys in New York.

CHETRY: I don't believe it yet, but I love it.

MARCIANO: Yes, right. It's going to be a quick melt.

HOLMES: Thanks, Rob.

Coming up, frustration in Egypt once again. They were mad before. They are furious now. We are watching what is happening this morning in Cairo.

CHETRY: Also, apple falls pretty far. A $10 billion stock hit yesterday. What caused what they're calling the flash crash. Fifty- two minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-five minutes past the hour right now. There is a live look where it's nearly 2:00 p.m. in Cairo, and our reporters who are there describing these as the largest crowds yet in this 18-day protest. Taking to the streets once again. Very angry over feeling that Hosni Mubarak made it seem he was going to leave and is now retaining power.

New information this morning is that the army is weighing in. Armed forces in Egypt's leadership say they would back Hosni Mubarak's decision to remain in office as part of a gradual transfer of power, and that they would guarantee free and honest elections. There is still a lot of chaos, though, because many people feel this is a roost, and that it means that the regime is digging in and staying put.

HOLMES: We are keeping a close eye as we get close to 2 o'clock, I believe, it is now in Cairo.

Just at the top of the hour, Friday prayers have wrapped up on this holy day in Cairo expecting as what we're seeing now huge crowds in the street, but also, there is a concerted effort to keep these protests peaceful, and so far, that is what we are seeing today. Quick break here. We're right back. We're keeping a close eye on what's happening in Cairo. Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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