I raised the Holy Shit! Terror Alert Level(tm) to red when I read The Independent's version of the story but, upon futher sleuthing, I discovered Mehlis's admission and then lowered the alert level to fushcia.

Surprisingly, Bolton seems nonplussed by the error and is focused on the content, calling this an "historic document".

Hmmm...where have I heard that term before?

I guess there are different kinds of historic documents - some that affect the Holy Shit! level and some that don't - like that August, 2001 PDB "Osama determined to strike in US".  

Sidebar: and who was there that day in August at the PDB? Harriet Miers.

And note, if one actually reads the details, that once the so-called scandalous edits are restored, the evidence points even more directly at the Asaad family.

This is a puzzling diary, catnip. The facts undercut your previous two diaries on this general subject of Syria, but you don't seem to realize that.

Do you know anything about Syria? Do you know any Syrians? Do we have any reason to regard you as knowledgeable in this area beyond general blogging skills?

As I understand it, the paper was reporting allegations against the named members of the Syrian security organisation. The names were withheld by the author on the grounds that they had been supplied by only one source and their involvement could not be verified.

In any case, the report was not intended to be a definitive assessment on what happened but to provide if you like a "case" against those accused of involvement.Perhaps the best analogy for the US would be to assume that an inditement from a Grand Jury means that the person is guilty. I wonder what Carl Rove et al would have to say about that.

Der Spiegel has an interesting story about Zuheir Mohammed al-Siddiq.

It appears he received a substantial honorarium for his help with the UN report, said help having been arranged by Syrian "dissidents."

Maybe it is just a well-intentioned effort to help him get back on his feet after his legal troubles.

Below is a link to the Der Spiegel article for those who speak German, and a babelfish translation for those whose German is worse than babelfish's.

A central witness in Mehlis report is condemned cheat

At the reliability of a central witness, by whom the UN Sonderermittler Detlev Mehlis supports its report in the murder case Hariri, doubts exist. Because Suheir al-Sadik is a several times condemned cheat.

Hamburg - which is alleged secret service man al-Sadik, 42, on whose statements substantial parts of the determinations decrease/go back, in the past among other things because of defraudation of funds and fraud condemned. Also in the UN commission, which examined the murder at the Lebanese ex prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and submitted on Thursday their report, exist doubts about the reliability of the Syrian witness.

Sadik lied demonstrably, is called it in UN circles. Thus it maintained only Beirut one month before the act to have left. At the end of September has it then granted in the execution of the assassination attempt to have been involved. Sadik for its statement of third side kept money obvious. According to data of its brothers Sadik announced itself in the late summer from Paris and said: "I am now millionaire."

Skepticism is fed also thereby that the contact was manufactured to Mehlis over the Syrian Dissidenten Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the president Baschir alu-Assad, which fights the regime in Damascus. Sadik wants to have made its dwelling available in the Beiruter suburb Chalda for several preparation meetings, in which Syrian secret service officers would have participated. Sadik wants to have collected for the Syrian intelligence service information in Lebanese Palestinian camps.

The Syrian government already made different western governments available weeks ago a dossier with loading documents over Sadik. Thus it is to be proven that Mehlis a notorious swindler mounted.

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one man's conspiracy is another man's business plan
Blog updated as needed

French police arrested a former Syrian intelligence officer accused of lying to U.N. investigators probing the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, police and judicial officials said Monday.

Mohammed Zuhair Al-Siddiq was taken into custody Sunday in the Paris suburb of Chatou by France's DST counterespionage service, police in France said. He was the subject of an international arrest warrant and is expected to be extradited, the police said.

The arrest warrant, issued by Lebanese Magistrate Elias Eid, accused Al-Siddiq of giving phony testimony and misleading the U.N. investigation, judicial officials in Lebanon said.

Arab media has billed Al-Siddiq, 45, as being a leading witness in the probe by chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis of Hariri's killing earlier this year. Mehlis is to release his report by October 25.

French police identified Al-Siddiq as a former intelligence officer _ as he reportedly claimed during testimony _ though many questions remained about his identity and his involvement with Syrian officials.

Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat, a close Hariri ally, claimed Al-Siddiq had lied, "perhaps because he wanted it this way, either for personal interest or perhaps because he was planted to mislead the investigation."

"It will all show in court," he told Voice of Lebanon radio, after being asked about the arrest.

According to media reports in Lebanon and the Arab world, Al-Siddiq claimed he took part in a meeting of Lebanese security officials who drew up a plan to kill Hariri. He then allegedly left Syria for a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia before ending up in France, where he was interviewed by U.N. investigators.

Al-Siddiq also told investigators he was at the crime scene before and after the massive bombing targeted Hariri's motorcade, according to the media reports.

The Syrians have sought to discredit Al-Siddiq as being a wanted man at home, for fleeing his military service and for fraud, according to the media reports. Al-Siddiq's family in Syria also called his accusations lies.

Newspapers, including the pan-Arab Al Hayat, have raised suspicions the Syrians planted al-Siddiq to confuse investigators. There was no immediate comment from Syrian officials Monday.

Hariri and 20 others were killed February 14 by a massive bomb that blew up his motorcade as it passed through central Beirut.

The killing touched off a groundswell of protest in Lebanon and internationally, forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and ending nearly three decades of domination of its tiny neighbor.

The Mehlis team has named four Lebanese generals, all close to Syria, as suspects in the assassination. Lebanon has arrested them.

Last week, one of seven Syrian officials who was questioned by the investigation, Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan, committed suicide.

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one man's conspiracy is another man's business plan
Blog updated as needed