Mubarak Announces Retirement at End of Term

The protestors want him to leave both his office, and the country, immediately:

Egyptians wholeheartedly rejected President Hosni Mubarak’s announcement Tuesday evening that he will not run for reelection in September, continuing to demand that he step down immediately.

A roar of anger went up from the thousands of people in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square even before the president had finished his address, offering an immediate answer to an unprecedented offer from an autocrat who has ruled for almost 30 years with few concession to the people. They shook their shoes at a large screen where the president's image was broadcast, screaming “Get out! Get out!”

“I was angry, but now I am enraged,” said Abdullah Rawaq, shouting to be heard amid a crowd chanting: “He must go! We will not go!

Somehow, I do not think that it is likely that Mubarak will get either his 8 months or his wish to stay in Egypt.

A bit of doggerel about this follows the break, apologies to Theodore Geisel and Art Buchwald.

"Hosni Sayyid Mubarak will you please go now!
The time has come.
The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
Go!
I don't care how.
You can go by foot.
You can go by cow.
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak will you please go now!
You can go on skates.
You can go on skis.
You can go in a hat.
But
Please go.
Please!
I don't care.
You can go
By bike.
You can go
On a Zike-Bike
If you like.
If you like
You can go
In an old blue shoe.
Just go, go, GO!
Please do, do, do, DO!
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak
I don't care how.
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak
Will you please
GO NOW!
You can go on stilts.
You can go by fish.
You can go in a Crunk-Car
If you wish.
If you wish
You may go
By lion's tale.
Or stamp yourself
And go by mail.
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak
Don't you know
The time has come
To go, go, GO!
Get on your way!
Please Hosni M.!
You might like going in a Zumble-Zay.
You can go by balloon . . .
Or broomstick.
Or
You can go by camel
In a bureau drawer.
You can go by bumble-boat
. . . or jet.
I don't care how you go.
Just get!
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak!
I don't care how.
Hosni Sayyid Mubarak
Will you please
GO NOW!
I said
GO
And
GO
I meant . . .
The time had come
So . . .
HOSNI WENT."