GENEVA—Former Syrian diplomat Danny al-Baaj says he spent half
his days at the Syrian U.N. mission in Geneva secretly working
against President Bashar Assad's regime—and he says there are
many others like him at all levels of government.  Al-Baaj, who
joined the mission as a third secretary in August 2010, defected
to the opposition last fall but kept on in his job, where he
dealt mainly with human rights issues. He says he tried to
represent the Syrian people, not the regime and its brutal
attempt to suppress anti-government groups.  "Yes, I was with
the opposition for a year and a half," al-Baaj told U.N.
reporters in Geneva on Thursday after his defection earlier this
month. "It is a criminal regime."  In recent months, he said it
had become harder for him and several other diplomats elsewhere
who were secretly opposed to the regime to keep up appearances.
He said higher-ups increasingly scrutinized their statements,
finding them not in line with the regime's thinking.  Al-Baaj
told reporters that he remai