"... How to dispel that only Assad stands between militant Islam & a measure of secularism..."

(Shadid) "...As the violence has worsened, the implications have deepened. A deep current of anxiety over the uprising has pervaded Lebanon, where Syria’s ascendant allies worry about the consequences if Mr. Assad falls. Likewise, Syria and Iran have long represented opposition to an American-backed order in the region, an alliance that would potentially not survive a change in government...

Some organizers say a challenge as the uprising unfolds will be how to dispel the age-old claim of authoritarian Arab rulers that only they stand between militant Islam and a measure of secularism. In a country where Mr. Assad and his father long conflated dissent with subversion, organized political life remains undeveloped, save for an embryonic civil society along with the Muslim Brotherhood and organized religion.

“What is the alternative regime in Syria?” asked Rafic Nasrallah, the head of the International Center for Media and Studies in Beirut, a research group sympathetic to Syria’s allies in Lebanon. “The Islamic fundamentalist groups? The West has no alternatives.” ..."