Nightly News   |  February 01, 2011

ElBaradei: Happy to be 'agent for change'

In an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says he is interested in seeing his nation join the "the big human family."

Share This:

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> a lot of media attention since he has come forward as a kind of compromise candidate. a man who could lead the various factions here is dr. mohammed el baradei . he's lived many of the past years in other countries. he's back here, he reacted tonight. i talked to him by telephone to this mubarak speech by saying that mubarak is extending the ago on any, engaged in an active deception tonight by giving this speech. he called mubarak a dead man walking . those are very tough words from a man who is now back in egypt for whatever comes next. we talked to him at his home today about this sue dpseudo candidacy of his. how do you view your own -- whether we call it candidacy, if it isn't you emerging as a leader of a new egypt, are there individuals you would be perfectly happy to see?

>> i'd be perfectly happy, brian, that i be quote/unquote agent for change. seeing my region going from where we are to where we should be. i would be perfectly happy if anybody else would take it from there. i'm not interested in running the country. i'm interested in seeing this country, at this stage of my life, you know, catching up, being part of the big human family i'm used to. i've lived in the u.s. for 15 years, europe for 25 years. i lived in democracies. this is to me -- without democracy, there is no life. the issue of who's going to run doesn't really matter. the important thing is how he's going to be chosen.

>> look at your country right now. there's no internet service , commerce has ground to a halt. stores are closed, nothing's happening. the price of oil is spiking, tourism -- people are trying to get out, not come in.

>> sure.

>> how long can this go on?

>> it can't last very long. the country is going down the drain. and unless mubarak understands he needs to go by the end of the week, my fear is that the whole situation will go bloody, again i continue to have -- people around him need to go. once he's out, everything can sort of go back to normal.

>> dr. mohammad el baradei . he's fired quite a shot at hosni mubarak . we've spoken about