Ex-Defense Official McFarland: Mubarak Foiled Muslim Brotherhood

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s announcement today that he will not seek re-election and his country will have a peaceful, democratic political transition, if true, has “pulled the rug,” from under the feet of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, former Assistant Defense Secretary K.T. McFarland told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.

Now there is a “fighting chance that there will be a peaceful transition,” McFarland said, noting that it previously had been believed that Mubarak planned “to rule from the grave,” pushing for his son Gamal to succeed him in the presidency he has held three decades.

“The Muslim Brotherhood just had the rug pulled out from under them,” she said. “This will be a peaceful transition. They [the protesters] are not burning the American flag.”