HUGH O’NEILL—Damascus has been fought over throughout its existence because of its strategic value. The story we know best is that of Saul of Tarsus: fresh from the stoning of St. Stephen on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by a great light and a voice from Heaven asking “Saul, Saul. Why persecutest thou me?” When we look back to the stoning of Stephen, we find a story of his trial before the Sanhedrin Court for blasphemy at which false testimony was presented. As Stephen was being stoned, he prayed for his persecutors’ forgiveness: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. One of Moses’ Ten Commandments forbade the bearing of false witness: Fake News, Propaganda and Disinformation is the domain of the CIA.