MATEO MATHAUS: THE WORLD NOW

The Egyptian military is ready to die to defend the people against "terrorists" and extremists, Egypt's army chief said Wednesday, after President Mohammed Morsi rejected a military ultimatum and public pressure to quit, vowing that he would also put his life on the line.

The statement was posted on a Facebook page associated with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

"We swear to God that we will sacrifice our blood for Egypt and its people against all terrorists, extremists and ignorant" groups, it said.

Egypt is counting the hours. The two-day deadline issued by the military to Morsi to solve the political crisis in the country is set to end at 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. New York time). At least one anti-Morsi TV station put up a clock counting down to the end of the ultimatum, although the military did not give a precise hour.

With his fate hanging in the balance, an embattled Morsi vowed not to resign during a defiant televised address to the nation midnight Tuesday, saying he would not yield to the demands of millions of protesters or see the military suspend the constitution, disband parliament and install a new leadership.

"The price of preserving legitimacy is my life," Morsi said in an impassioned, repetitive, 45-minute ramble. "Legitimacy is the only guarantee to preserve the country."

In a warning aimed as much at his own militant supporters as at the army, he said: "We do not declare jihad [holy war] against each other. We only wage jihad on our enemies."

Adding to the sense of an impending clash, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood said a "military coup is underway" and that the group was ready to act as human shields for Morsi.

The Islamist leader demanded that the powerful armed forces withdraw their ultimatum, saying he rejected all "dictates," from home or abroad. Outside on the streets, the sense that both sides are ready to fight to the end sharpened, with clashes between his supporters and opponents that left at least 23 dead, most of them in a single incident of fighting outside Cairo University.

Morsi accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.

"There is no substitute for legitimacy," said Morsi, who at times angrily raised his voice, thrust his fist in the air and pounded the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence."

Morsi's intransigence showed that he and his Muslim Brotherhood are prepared to run the risk of challenging the army. It also entrenches the lines of confrontation between his Islamist supporters and Egyptians angry over what they see as his efforts to impose control by the Muslim Brotherhood and his failures to deal with the country's problems.

The crisis has become a struggle over whether a popular uprising can overturn the verdict of the ballot box. Morsi's opponents say he has lost his legitimacy through mistakes and power grabs and that their turnout on the streets over the past three days shows the nation has turned against him.

For a third day Tuesday, millions of jubilant Morsi opponents filled Cairo's historic Tahrir Square, as well as avenues adjacent to two presidential palaces in the capital, and main squares in cities nationwide. After Morsi's speech, they erupted in indignation, banging metal fences to raise a din, some raising their shoes in the air in a show of contempt. "Leave, leave," they chanted.

Morsi "doesn't understand. He will take us toward bloodshed and civil war," said Islam Musbah, a 28-year-old protester sitting on the sidewalk outside the Ittihadiya palace.

The president's supporters also moved out in increased marches in Cairo and other cities. Morsi's supporters have stepped up warnings that it will take bloodshed to dislodge him. While Morsi has stuck to a stance that he is defending democracy in Egypt, many of his Islamist backers have presented the fight as one to protect Islam.

"Seeking martyrdom to prevent the ongoing coup is what we can offer as a sign of gratitude to previous martyrs who died in the revolution," Brotherhood stalwart Mohammed el-Beltagy wrote Tuesday in his official Facebook page.

Political violence was more widespread on Tuesday, with multiple clashes between the two camps in Cairo as well as in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities. A march by Morsi supporters outside Cairo University came under fire from gunmen on nearby rooftops.

At least 23 people were killed in Cairo and more than 200 injured, according to hospital and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most of the killings took place outside Cairo University located at Cairo's twin city of Giza. The official Al-Ahram website reported that the armed forces deployed armored vehicles to the area.

The latest deaths take to at least 39 the people who have died since the first day of protests, Sunday, many of them in shootings at anti-Morsi gatherings.

On Monday, the military gave Morsi an ultimatum to meet the protesters' demands within 48 hours. If not, the generals' plan would suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve the Islamist-dominated legislature and set up an interim administration headed by the country's chief justice, the state news agency reported.

The leaking of the military's so-called political "road map" appeared aimed at adding pressure on Morsi by showing the public and the international community that the military has a plan that does not involve a coup.

On his official Twitter account, Morsi urged the armed forces "to withdraw their ultimatum" and said he rejected any domestic or foreign dictates.

In his speech Tuesday, he implicitly warned the military against removing him, saying such action would "backfire on its perpetrators."

Fearing that Washington's most important Arab ally would descend into chaos, U.S. officials said they were urging Morsi to take immediate steps to address opposition grievances, telling the protesters to remain peaceful and reminding the army that a coup could have consequences for the massive American military aid package Egypt receives. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Morsi adviser Ayman Ali denied that the U.S. asked Egypt to call early presidential elections and said consultations were continuing to reach national conciliation and resolve the crisis. He did not elaborate.

The army has insisted it has no intention of taking power. But the reported road map showed it was ready to replace Morsi and make a sweeping change in the ramshackle political structure that has evolved since Mubarak's fall in February 2011.

The constitution and domination of the legislature after elections held in late 2011-early 2012 are two of the Islamists' and Brotherhood's most valued victories -- along with Morsi's election last year.

A retired army general with close ties to the military confirmed the news agency report's version of the road map.

Hossam Sweilam said a panel of experts would draft a new constitution and the interim administration would be a presidential council led by the Supreme Constitutional Court's chief justice and including the defense minister, representatives of political parties, youth groups, Al-Azhar Mosque and the Coptic Church.

He said the military envisioned a one-year transitional period before presidential elections are held.

The military spokesman, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, declined to confirm the details. "It is too early and we don't want to jump into conclusions," he said.

Morsi also faced new fissures within his leadership.

Three government spokesmen -- two for Morsi and one for the prime minister -- were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the military's ultimatum. Five cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister, resigned Monday, and a sixth, Sports Minister El-Amry Farouq, quit Tuesday.

One ultraconservative Salafi party, al-Nour, also announced its backing for early elections. The party was once an ally of Morsi but in recent months has broken with him.

Among the opposition crowds outside the Qasr el-Qobba presidential palace, one protester said he believed Morsi would not go easily.

"He will only leave after a catastrophe. Lots of blood. And the military is the only party that can force him out then," said Haitham Farouk, an oil company employee joining a protest for the first time.

He said the "epic" crowds showed how Egypt's public has turned against Morsi and his Brotherhood, which opponents claim is the real power behind the president.

"This is everybody, not just the educated or the political," Farouk said of the protesters. "They came down because only the Brotherhood gained in the past two years.

Morsi may try half-measures to satisfy the army, he said, "but the people are not going back until he leaves. After what we have seen in the past year, we will not settle for less."

In a significant move, opposition parties and the youth movement behind the demonstrations agreed that reform leader and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei would represent them in any negotiations on the country's political future. The move appeared aimed at presenting a unified voice in a post-Morsi system, given the widespread criticism that the opposition has been too fragmented to present an alternative to the Islamists.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddad said the opposition is to blame for its own woes, failing to perform well in the elections, and has now decided to "brush up to military power."

"We can't keep running elections until [the Brotherhood] loses," he wrote in a Tweet. He said the opposition should "man up" to its responsibilities and come up with a better strategy "or accept democratic outcomes."

Despite heated rhetoric among many Islamists about standing up to the military, one cleric from the Salafi movement warned against repeating the scenario of Algeria, when the military negated elections that Islamists won in the 1990s, and the Islamists responded with a years-long, bloody insurgency.

The result, Adel Nasr wrote on a Salafi website, was that "more than a hundred thousand were killed and ... their popularity went down," costing Islamists both political power and the power of their religious message.