The Bush administration has reportedly considered launching military strikes on Iraq’s neighbor Syria and finding someone to replace Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad. Newsweek reports that at a high-level meeting held on October 1st, U.S. officials debated striking training camps inside the Syrian border used by insurgents in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined yesterday to verify the magazine’s account that she had successfully opposed the strikes. Meanwhile, the Financial Times is reporting that Bush’s security adviser Stephen Hadley is coordinating an inter-agency search for someone to replace al-Hassad as president of Syria. The U.S. has accused Syria of harboring Iraqi insurgents and aiding Palestinian and Lebanese militias. One administration official told Newsweek last month that military planning around the country and Iran is “busier than ever.” Last week, Fox News television host Bill O’Reilly called for al-Assad’s assassination, saying “we should take his life if he doesn’t help us out.”