When you go fishing for accusations - when you try to blame everything including the colour of the sky on someone - expect it to come tumbling down.

The US wants to believe Syria's to blame for their woes in Iraq. Can't handle the Iraqi rebellion - it must be Syria's fault, they're helping the insurgency. Can't find WMD - they must be in Syria.

It demanded Syria hand over Sabawi Al-Hasan, who was directing the insurgency from Syria. He was one of the 55 most wanted, and had a $1m reward on his head. He used to be head of the mukhabaraat (intelligence) and was adviser to Saddam.

But he's just been captured by the Iraqi authorities.

But then Saddam, or his sons Uday and Qusay weren't found in Syria either even though Assad was accused of harbouring them. Maybe, just maybe, Syria's telling the truth when it says it closed the offices of Palestinian groups too?

A group of insurgents 'confessed' on Al-Iraqiya, the American-funded Iraqi channel. They proudly proclaimed they were Syrian.

The US authorities immediately cast doubt on the tape's authenticity, rendering the broadcast less than worthless. Were Al-Iraqiyah trying too hard to please their masters? Western reporters in Baghdad say it was an Iraqi government initiative to cast Syria in the worst light - they did not accuse the men of any offences.

Rory Carroll in Baghdad: "The broadcast echoed the televised confessions and humiliations of Saddam Hussein's opponents before his regime was toppled."

When you lie, try to make it believable. One man claimed to be a member of Syrian intelligence, they were in Iraq to stop America getting to Syria, they were trained in Bashar Al-Assad's home town. But why did they use knives instead of guns? "The Syrians told us to do it."