On Feb. 24, Baghdad's al-Iraqiya TV—the US-funded government station—broadcast a "confession" by a supposed Syrian intelligence officer that his country's secret service had been assisting the Iraqi rebels.

''My name is Anas Ahmed al-Essa. I live in Halab. I am from Syria,'' he said. Halab is another name for Aleppo, Syria.
''What's your job?'' he was asked by someone off-camera. ''I am a lieutenant in intelligence.''
Then a second question. ''Which intelligence?'' The reply: ''Syrian intelligence.''
The detained man, identified as 30-year-old Lt. Anas Ahmed al-Essa, said his group was recruited to ''cause chaos in Iraq . . . to bar America from reaching Syria.'' (AP, Feb. 25)

The Syrian government responded: "What has been reported by some Iraqi detainees is baseless and inaccurate and Syria is keen on Iraq's stability, and security and does not interfere in its internal affairs." (Xinhua, Feb. 24)

OK, sound off: truth or disinformation? Does Lt. al-Essa exist, or is he a CIA creation?

See our last post on Iraq.