“This is an extraordinary moment for Egypt,” said Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Friday. “Courageous and peaceful demands for freedom and opportunity have now won the Egyptian people a chance at a new beginning.” Kerry stressed that there will be hard work ahead, and called on Egypt's military to keep its promise to lift the Emergency Law and prepare for free and fair elections in Egypt. Kerry was among the first in Washington to call on Mubarak to “step aside gracefully.” It is very important that nobody gets carried away with today's celebration because the transition now is extraordinarily tricky,'' Kerry said in an interview with the Boston Globe on Friday. “One thing I am very mindful of . . . is that an election alone does not make a democracy.'' Kerry, who ran for president against George W. Bush in 2004, has played an active role both publicly and privately in helping the Obama administration communicate with leaders in troubled areas. Kerry said the United States has an obligation to “help Egyptians turn this democratic moment into a process that builds a government responsive to economic needs as well as demands for freedom.” He also told the Globe that Mubarak's resignation will usher a period of sweeping, unpredictable change throughout the Middle East, putting it “on par with the fall of the Berlin Wall” in historical significance. BM
