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 [2], 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 [3], Feb. 24)
OK, sound off: truth or disinformation? Does Lt. al-Essa exist, or is he a CIA creation?
See our last post [4] on Iraq.
