well a key figure is frank wisner the former american ambassador to egypt my home comes from a family of great importance in history regime change his father frank was no senior war cia head of operation she was in the fifty's not as sixty and he was the architect of regime change in beslan iran but an hour or so south of changing the regime from a friend who'd lost his usefulness to find somebody else and so his son has regime change in its d.n.a. and he is a very important figure in american history in terms of helping shape events in the commons to reactivate the kosovo and now he's in egypt and i think he represents if you like the power of course original washington the american ambassador in egypt mr skopec has been talking to of are talking field position frank wisner has been talking to the generals to the new vice president the former head of the secret police a muslim and of course mr barker and so america seems to be playing a double game too like on the one hand talking up democracy president obama praising young people and on the other hand classical protective apocalypti

walking the tightrope there were moments -- most recently this rather embarrassing moment with frank wisners supposed to deliver this message that it needs to be now. that was to be the quiet message. wisner had a relationship. instead he's called back and speaks to the world at a munich security conference with the secretary of state there, speaking by satellite saying mubarak needs to stay on. that was not the message. in fact, what is being said publically and privately. they had to slap him down which was an embarrassment. they are flooding the zone, going to the leaders and trying to get the message to mubarak. you can stay perhaps in title but you have to give up power. we are seeing it with suleiman. >> the transition -- you could argue it is beginning now if he gives up power and is there just in a pro forma role. >> peggy noonan, talking about reagan at 100. one of the issues ronald reagan led the country through was the end of communism. he spoke movingly in 1987. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. how are some dealing with this berlin moment in the middle east? >> i don't know i

. >> reporter: but addressing the summit in germany, today frank wisner, the man president obama sent days ago to speak personally with mubarak says for now the egyptian president should stay put. >> the president must stay in office in order to steer those changes through. i, therefore, believe that president mubarak's continued leadership is critical. >> reporter: both wisner and the white house say he is not speaking as a u.s. official. but other experts agree and fear that siding with protest herbs and pushing mubarak to leave might force him to dig in instead. >> what matters isn't what happens in the next day or two. it doesn't matter whether mubarak is the president of egypt. what really matters is what the process to move beyond, to move beyond him? >> reporter: lester, with the statements, meetings and calls, white house officials remain eager to knock down the perception that they are in any way orchestrating events in egypt. as secretary clinton put it today, we are on the outside looking in. lester? >> mike viqueira at the white house, thank you. >>> this program note. tom

the administration actually dispatched a veteran diplomat, frank wisner, to carry a message straight to mubarak, saying do not run for re-election in september. the message was delivered, mubarak obviously said that tonight, but it was not good enough for protesters in cairo. brian? >> savannah guthrie at the white house, a still developing angle of this story tonight. savannah, thanks. >>> this evening i spoke by telephone to mohammad elbaradei who is back here in cairo. he spent years living in other countries, a part of that in the united states. he's been a negotiator, a diplomat, and he is back here offering himself as, perhaps, a consensus candidate for the very vocal majority in a post-mubarak era. he had some tough words tonight over the phone. he told me the mubarak speech extended the agony. he called it an act of deception on the part of mubarak. finally, he called mubarak a dead man walking, and those are weighty words in this region. earlier today i spoke with dr. elbaradei at his house and asked him about this candidacy of his. how do you view your own, whether we call

and a process of national dialogue begun. >> reporter: and secretly former ambassador to egypt, frank wisner suggestion of secretary of state hillary clinton was dispatched to meet with mubarak in cairo. wisner conveyed a message to mubarak that he should not be on the september ballot and neither should his son gamal. that night mubarak delivered the first part of that message but not the second. the president continued to up the pressure. >> an orderly transition must be meaningful. it must be peaceful, and it must begin now. >> reporter: now? yes, now. >> now started yesterday. >> reporter: the president has long spoken in favor of universal rights. most notably in june 2009 in cairo. >> i do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things. the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed. there are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere. >> reporter: but did the u.s. have a policy for what to do if those values started to blossom uprooting the foundation of a u.s.-backed dictator such as mubarak? critics have their doubts. ei

president obama dispatched frank wisner, former ambassador to egypt, to deliver a message directly to mubarak, suggesting that he not seek re-election. across egypt, the rallies reached a tipping point today, they called it the march of millions, a sweeping sea of people flooding into cairo's city center. and as they poured in this morning, they were in no mood to compromise. in the shadow of one of the statues of one of their greatest liberation leaders. people have been coming and going from the protests in the central square there. on this main bridge across the nile, you can see tens of thousands of people just walking. bridges became parking lots as people abandoned their cars to start walking. at times, we were almost swallowed up by the thickening crowd. some came prepared for the worst. >> i got towels for my nose. i got my will written yesterday. >> reporter: you got your will written? >> i wrote my will yesterday. if i die, i die. so what. >> reporter: but like the past several days this one ended with no violence. and mubarak himself concluded his speech by asking the army

but today, former ambassador to egypt, frank wisner, who met with president mubarak this week at the request of the white house, indicated the embattled leader should stay put while the new government is developed. >> the president must stay in office in order to steer those changes through. it's his opportunity to write his own legacy. >> reporter: u.s. officials were quick to point out wisener was only speaking for himself, but u.s. diplomats may be signaling that a smooth transition without mubarak and no clear opposition leaders will be a tough one. >> no question that the white house wants mubarak out. they want him out now, as the president said, but also no doubt that we want to see a process of transition that is not chronically destabilizing for this part of the world. >> reporter: and today, vice president joe biden had a conversation with his new egyptian counterpart. it's not the first time these two leaders have spoken, but this time vice president biden had a ramped-up sense of urgency, suggesting that there needs to be a clear agenda and timeline for the transition. ru

himself and is now being reinforced by a veteran retired diplomat, former ambassador to egypt, frank wisner. >> we have asked him to add his perspective to our analysis on current developments. he has traveled to cairo, is on the ground now. >> reporter: it is a delicate dance. at a white house meeting today, one official is quoted as saying we can't be seen as telling a leader to go. >> on the one hand, they don't want to tell president mubarak outright we want you to get out. but they have been telling him that he should introduce reforms and changes, which i think that if he were to introduce them, that would be tantamount to him putting the noose around his neck. >> reporter: the administration has been trying to catch up as events move at a dizzying pace. >> but i think they understand very well that they have got to get on the side of history here. and i think you'll see that unfold in the next few days. >> reporter: senior officials hope that sending a highly respected retired veteran diplomat to cairo will reinforce the message that mubarak needs to do a lot more. they're avoiding s

that, of course, was one of the messages that president obama had, that special envoy frank wisner, deliver to mubarak. to say he should not run for re-election but his son should not be on the ballot, either. and mubarak said nothing about that when he spoke to egypt on tuesday. so, the fact he said it in his interview with christiane they found very significant. >> interesting that he's just saying it now. okay, jake tapper, at the white house. >>> and as we mentioned, the thugs have been out on the streets in cairo tonight, saying they want to stop all these pictures being broadcast here and around the world. and they have been threatening journalists with violence, with death. david muir is also in cairo tonight, where, as we said, it is too dangerous to report outside. david? >> reporter: that's right, diane. in fact, hotel security swept through the building before the broadcast tonight, making us come inside from the balconies, as you pointed out. we witnessed another 24 hours of confrontation in this city today, and some of it is difficult to watch. it was a battle that lit up cairo

egypt all the time twenty four seventh's we have margaret scobey our ambassador there we sent frank wisner the very capable man there i'm quite confident that the assessment coming back from those people all of them is roughly this mubarak. whatever the regime is going to be there is going to stay there that the people have not been successful in terms of on lodging on cd kicking out the really the leadership in egypt as for example they seem to have been in tunisia so they're reading to accommodate themselves to whether or not this is the real situation and it's what's being reported i think through facial channels and so they're having to accommodate themselves to that how do you suddenly turn around when the people. revolution is that war doesn't look like it's going to bring the kind of change that perhaps you hope for an intense debate but at the same time are we hindering the people's revolution by also supporting so much i do i say make use of the man it's going to leave this orderly transition i think this is cause and effect i think what has happened is the bulk of the egyptian pe

first, frank wisner made some comments on saturday to the munich conference. he did so as a private citizen and those views are his own and they do not reflect the views of the united states government. in terms of what he did last week, you know he is a private citizen. he gave generously of his time. we asked him to undertake a onetime mission. and during the course of that mission, he delivered a blunt in candid private message. and we feel he was uniquely positioned to deliver this message and have it heard by president mubarak. when he came back, he briefed the secretary on his discussions in egypt. at that point, his mission was completed. >> p.j. do you know if he was the lobbyist at the time when you had dispatched him? >> we are aware of his employer. by the same token we are aware he is a distinguished diplomat, former ambassador to egypt and we felt that he was uniquely positioned to have the kind of conversation that we felt needed to be done in egypt. >> when you say you were aware of his employer, you mean patton boggs, right? >> so you think tha

omnibus dur to egypt frank wisner to go there and basically say we don't think, president obama doesn't think you should run for re-election, quote/unquote re-election. and that your son, gamal should not be on the ballot this septr either. again mubarak didn't seem to be getting the message although he did come out and say he wouldn't run for re-election. he still blames things on the muslim brother hood. now you see a much much more aggressive posture from the obama administration. president obama saying last night that mubarak or that there needs to be an orderly transition and it needs to begin now. that's what he said tuesday night, it needs to begin now. when robert gibbs the press secretary was asked, what does now mean? he said now means yesterday. so there's an urgency and there's a real concern officials tell me, the president is concerned that mubarak is going to delay this transition of power and that could cause a lot of trouble for the united states. >> charlie: and how do they see what might come after this and the u.s. relationship and the change in the middle east? >> n

. >> rose: well, haven't they encouraged that privately by sending frank wisner-- who you know well-- over there to express in the private way the president... >> the administration has a huge problem. they were thrown suddenly into a crisis they obviously didn't foresee what anyone else... >> and one they didn't inherit. >> the middle east was not even mentioned in the state of the union address so it clearly was not a top issue for national consideration. so now they have to improvise reactions and you couldn't plan for something that nobody foresaw. so i recommend the administration is under tremendous pressure and i've been in crisis situations. i have not been in crisis situations where we had a 24/7 news cycle and we therefore felt obliged to speak every evening on a fast-moving situation and this is a particularly complicated one because it has global international implications, it has local implications and it has domestic implications in this country. so on the whole i would prefer if they would seem a little less frantic about getting into the news cycle. >> rose: the admini

earlier this week, the white house dispatched a special envoy, a former ambassador to egypt named frank wisner. one of the messages he took to mubarak was not only he should seek quote unquote re-election, but his son should not be on the ballot. later that day, he spoke publicly, but said nothing about his son. the administration was worried he did not get the message. though vice president suleiman said that the son would not be standing for re-election, there was not any message from mubarak himself until he said it to christiane. >> how fast does the white house want to see mubarak go? it sounds like he has no intention of going right away. >> reporter: i don't think they want to see him leave immediately but they would like to see immediately some sign for the public, for the egyptian people in the streets that mubarak is planning a procession, a plan, a move to leave, that there needs to be outreach to the opposition groups, including the muslim brotherhood. president obama has made it clear that nonsecular groups which are part of egyptian society need to be part of the government, not

starting with former ambassador to egypt frank wisner who met with mubarak last week and said this on saturday. >> the president must stay in office in order to steer those changes through. i therefore believe that president mubarak's continued leadership is critical. >> reporter: his words drew criticism from egyptian opposition groups, and u.s. officials insisted he spoke only for himself. state department spokesman p.j. crowley. >> he did so as a private citizen. those views are his own. they do not reflect the views of the united states government. >> reporter: still president obama again stopped short of calling for mubarak to resign now in his sunday interview with fox news. >> only he knows what he's going to do. here's what we know is that egypt is not going to go back to what it was. >> reporter: there also was word today of the human cost of forcing change. human rights watch reported nearly 300 people have died so far in the two-week-old uprising. >> ifill: now to the view from the streets and the people of cairo, and to our correspondent on the ground, margaret warner. >>

the statements it has made, the support for the egyptian people, the sending of an emissary in frank wisner to help deliver a message, which message is now clear to people, i think all of that has been appropriate and helpful. >> suarez: as you look across the entire region, has the united states given itself perhaps a simpler today and a tougher tomorrow by sometimes valuing stability over democracy in some of these countries when we supported regimes and leaders that were out of sync with the people? >> yes. simple answer. >> suarez: what now? >> well now comes the time of building this reform. i see in this an enormous opportunity for the united states and for the world. i see an enormous opportunity for the egyptian people. i also think there is something here for leaders in other countries to actually embrace, not to be fearful of. you know, the move to modernity carries its risks, but the greater risks are not moving at all. and i think people have learned that. so i think there are ways to embrace the desire for greater participation, greater enfranchisement and most importantly grea

you hear the protesters calling for mubarak to step down, so they did send frank wisner. on sunday, wisner, they're not commenting on what the message is, other than for mubarak and the government to initiate political reforms. if the white house were to send someone to deliver a tough message to mubarak, wisner would be the one to do it, he was ambassador to egypt during the golden age of relations between the u.s. and egypt, in the '80s and early bush, senior, administration, he would be the one to deliver a tough message. >> he's one tough man. thank you. and for more on this, we turn to one of the men looking to replace president obama, former massachusetts governor mitt romney came in second to john mccain for the republican nomination in 2008. he's the next guest in our series "vote 2012, the challengers" and written a best-seller "no apology, believe in america" out in paperbook. thanks for coming in this morning. >> thanks, george, good to be with you. >> if were you in the oval office now would you tell president mubarak go? >> we have to make it clear to the peo

as you pointed out earlier, frank wisner, former u.s. ambassador to egypt, is over there and positioned to talk to president mubarak. i think, quietly, the message is being sent to him that it is time for him to go. the administration has not come out publicly and said that, although they've come close to it, basically because of a sense of certain humility. up to us. to appe they administration wants to be on the side of history. i don't think we want to be ahead of history. the events should be dictated by what is happening in egypt. host: if mr. mubarak leaves, what should come next in terms of the former government and a particular leader? guest: transition is critically important. you heard the secretary of state referred to a peaceful and orderly transition. what we see in the opposition is an effort to try to put together a leadership -- mohamed elbaradei being the chief spokesman for the time being and trying to put together a list of demands. they're calling for national unity government. some form of interim government, minus m

the interesting thing about barack obama is that unlike lots of folks one would say even frank which iser in -- wisner who they sent over as an envoy he was unburdened by a 30-year relationship and didn't have a 30-year relationship with hosni mubarak. he approached this very differently. this is a man who ran on change. who talked about democracy in the middle east. who gave the speech in cairo. >> and who grew up under a dictator himself as a boy in indianapolis nearby a -- in indonesia. chris: people have thought he was pro third world and sympathetic to the aspirations of poor cents who want to get ahead but the knock from the right and center right is two -- too third world and' spiring people and how about looking for our oil producing allies and israel? will they be worried about what they saw? >> they will be worried but a misinterpretation. the truth about obama is he has a really keen perception of the limits of american power. and i think there is throughout the -- for the last 2 1/2 weeks, david wrote in one of his early comments about this that this is not about us. what was going on over

ambassador frank wisner as a message he is delivering to his -friend to- has a -- has a message he is delivering to his friend hosni mubarak and that may not be the same message that he wants to send to the global audience. >> wisner comes out and says mubarak has to be there till september. meanwhile, we have people -- the secretary of state and president saying that the transition needs to begin now. >> as mike indicated, this is the reality when something is so hot and sensitive. you are hearing in intense focus on all the subtleties of it -- an intense focus on all of the subtleties of this. don't tell anybody this, but i think barack obama is handling this quite well. >> we will not tell anybody. [laughter] >> you want to steadily and slowly -- you want to slowly say goodbye to mubarak and steadily pushed for reform. if you wait for the police and military to settle it, it gets really messy. he is trying to walk a tightrope. >> i am going to let you watch a little bit of the tiger that robert gibbs has been walking lately -- the tightrope that robert gibbs has been walking lately

this was the demand of president obama's envoy frank wisner. investigators are trying to find out whether their mother tried to kill them and herself. reporter will carr from koat in albuquerque has the story. >> it seemed like it was a dream but i know it happened. it was a nightmare. >> reporter: it's a nightmare 12-year-old tim miles and his brother and sister survived. late last week tim says his mom pulled over in a remote part of the county and made all three kids take a large amount of unknown pills. she told them it was so they could go to sleep. police say she took the same amount of pills and passed out with the car running. the catalytic converter caught on fire. >> luckily because of my size, the pills didn't take effect. like my sister and brother. so, i was not as woozy as them. >> reporter: tim says the smoke and flames jolted him awake. >> i didn't panic. i tried to keep focus and get my mom to safety. because she was unconscious. >> reporter: the 12-year-old quickly helped his family get out of the car. >> i was thinking about

as you pointed out earlier, frank wisner, former u.s. ambassador to egypt, is over there and positioned to talk to president mubarak. i think, quietly, the message is being se to him that it is time for him to go. the administration has not come out publicly and said that, alough they've come close to it, basically because of a sense of certain humility. up to us. to appe they administration wants to be on the side of history. i don't think we want to be ahead of history. the events should be dictated by what is happening in egypt. host: if mr. mubarak leaves, what should come next in terms of the former government and a particular leader? guest: transition is critically important. you heard the secretary of state referred to aeaceful and orderly transition. what we see in the opposition is an effort to try to put together a leadership -- mohamed elbaradei being the chief spokesman for the time being and trying to put together a list of demand they're calling for national unity government. some form of interim government, minus mubarak,

part of the job of frank wisner, who is a seasoned diplomat, is to convey the message that it is good for you and for egypt and for the middle east if you leave quietly. >> the government has said only that it is calling for an orderly transition in egypt. do you believe it needs to break with mubarak? >> who will break with mubarak? >> yes. >> i think they will reach the point. it is difficult for the president to balance cooperation with the egyptians against terrorism and other issues of interest for the united states. and also with american values with the tenets and promise of egypt that barack obama himself articulated brilliantly in his cairo speech in june, 2009. the egyptians, arabs, the international community is waiting for the president of the united states to be faithful to that promise of that speech. so i think the administration is trying not to scare its other allies in the region. i was there last week. i spoke with diplomats from the gulf state and other arab states. they were extremely concerned. some of them were in a state of fright. what would happen to them in