The Man from S.K.U.N.K.

In his headlong and disastrous plunge into socialism, Syria's Strongman Amin Hafez has resorted increasingly to that reliable diversion, the alleged U.S.-backed plot. Over the past month, 13 Syrians have been condemned to die on charges of collusion with the U.S. Last week Hafez presented another thriller that might not have impressed The Man from U.N.C.L.E. but went over big in Syria.

Cast as the native villain was Farhan Attassi, 36, a Syrian-born but naturalized U.S. citizen with an American wife and until lately a local salesman of American TV films. The brain was said to be Walter Snowdon, second secretary of the U.S. embassy in Damascus. Hauled before a military court--the proceedings were televised to the accompaniment of John Philip Sousa marches--Attassi testified that "Snow don kept talking about how bad Communism was and wondered if I would help him do something." One night the Snowdons invited the Attassis to dinner. Said Attassi: "As our wives were taking the dishes out to the kitchen, he gave some pretty big hints that he needed information on a new rocket received from Russia for the Syrian navy."

Attassi allegedly enlisted his second cousin, a petty officer at a Syrian naval base, and an army major who was actually to steal the data. Attassi said he received approximately $7,500, but the major tattled to his superiors, who fed him phony data to trap the U.S. spy.

Snowdon, 46, who had served in Syria for three years, was promptly expelled. In the context of the Middle East power balance, the U.S. might well be interested in the weaponry of Syria's bathtub fleet. But Attassi hardly bolstered the Syrian government's case when he blurted out in court: "I was placed under torture by electricity as soon as I was arrested." Asked for com ment on Hafez' espionage drama, U.S. Ambassador Ridgway B. Knight declared: "I don't intend to get into a spitting match with a skunk"--surely one of the most pungent if least diplomatic remarks ever made by a diplomat.

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