This administration lies with regularity and abandon.

Newsday.com: Evidence Against Syria Is Questioned The CIA has no credible evidence that the government of Syria has had a role in the shipment of night-vision goggles and other military equipment to Iraq, according to an administration official familiar with U.S. intelligence in the region.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last Friday suggested that Syria was responsible for the shipment to Iraq of defense-related goods, including the goggles, and warned that the United States considered "such trafficking as hostile acts and would hold the Syrian government accountable." Syria quickly denied the accusation.

And the administration official yesterday said that while military goods, including goggles, have been smuggled through Syria into Iraq for many years, "It's not necessarily with the knowledge, consent or approval of the Syrian government."

"It's not a new phenomenon," he said, "and it's not clear it has the Syrian government's imprimatur."

At the same time, he said, military goods also have been shipped into Iraq, in violation of UN sanctions, from border countries much more aligned with the U.S. government, including Turkey and Jordan.

A spokesman in Rumsfeld's office said yesterday, "I'm going to leave his comments stand where they are."