U.S. seeks change, not asking Mubarak to go now

Publicly, U.S. officials repeated President Barack Obama's call for an orderly transition of power to "begin now." But privately, one official voiced suspicions that Mubarak's government was instigating violence in Egypt.

The Obama administration also reached out to Egypt's top military officer, stressing the U.S. desire to see calm restored to the streets of Cairo, where pro- and anti-Mubarak forces fought with fists, stones and clubs.

While it did not call for Mubarak's immediate departure -- the demand of thousands of protesters who have thronged Cairo's streets for more than a week -- the White House said some kind of unspecified transition must start right away.

"Now means now," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a briefing.

The White House adopted an increasingly tough line toward Mubarak as it became clear that its ally of 30 years, a bulwark of U.S. efforts to maintain regional stability, wanted to serve out his term until presidential elections in September.

One sign of Mubarak's determination, analysts said, was an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement saying foreign calls for a democratic transition to begin at once were "rejected and aimed to incite the internal situation in Egypt."

This appeared to be a rebuff to Obama's statement on Tuesday that he had told Mubarak he believed that "an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now."

Mubarak said on Tuesday he would not run for re-election, a major concession for a man who has ruled Egypt for 30 years and has been a cornerstone of U.S. strategy in the Middle East. But that did not satisfy demonstrators who want him out now.

GIBBS: NO DETAILS

Asked if the White House was satisfied with Mubarak staying until September, when presidential elections are due, Gibbs said that he would not discuss details of Obama's conversation with Mubarak.

The spokesman was also vague about exactly what the United States wanted Mubarak to do.

"There are reforms that need to be undertaken ... There are opposition entities that have to be included in the conversations as we move toward free and fair elections that we've advocated for quite some time," Gibbs said.

A U.S. official and Middle East analysts cited several reforms the United States probably wanted to see, including:

-- repealing Egypt's emergency law, which rights groups say gives the government the ability to detain people indefinitely without charge and bar or disperse election-related rallies;