Israel: We prefer Assad

There is some sobering news from the Middle East. Even Israel is concerned about what Bush will do next. They are concerned about Syria without Assad.
JTA

Israel told the United States it fears the outcome of regime change in Syria. At a strategic-dialogue meeting this week among senior officials, Israel laid out for the United States three scenarios if Bashar Assad is toppled: chaos, an Islamist regime or another strongman from Assad’s minority Alawite sect. Israel fears all those options, saying Assad provides a measure of stability.


U.S. officials told their Israeli counterparts that toppling Assad could be “transformative” and dismissed concerns about an Islamist regime taking his place. Israel and the United States favor pressure on Syria to force it to stop hosting Palestinian terrorist groups and supporting Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization.

This is not surprising. Bush only knows one strategy. "Stay the course." Josh Marshall has a pretty cute comment. There is nothing better than good sarcasm.
Talking Points Memo

I guess since we've never overthrown a secular Arab strongman only to have the whole thing blow up in our face, it's just hard to know whether the Israelis' concerns might be well grounded.

Update: Gregory Djerejian, a conservative, but not prone to falling for blind ideology chides the Bush Administration in his blogTHE BELGRAVIA DISPATCH:

Kiddies, let's not be more Catholic than the Pope on this one, OK? The Israelis know the local neighborhood, after all, better than a lot of chest-thumpers sitting in cubicles at our high-falutin' 'think'-tanks....and there are other outcomes besides, er, "evolutionary" ones that one can espy, alas...