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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold'>Friday, October 21, 2005</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a name=112991430389661976></a><b><font size=2 face=Verdana><span
lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold'>Time
Zones, Watson (<a
href="http://ramziblahblah.blogspot.com/2005/10/time-zones-watson.html">blog</a>)</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>I just watched the press conference held by Detlev
Mehlis at the UN HQ in New York to address the presence of 2 different versions
of his report.<br>
<br>
As many of you know by now, there have been 2 circulating versions of the
Mehlis report. In fact they are only one version, but in 2 different formats.
One format, a PDF document (.pdf extension), is the official version submitted
by Mehlis to the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan. The second contains
the exact same text only formatted as a MS Office Word document (.doc
extension). In the latest versions of MS Word, there exists a feature called
"Track Changes" which allows the different modifications/revisions
done to the document to be recorded and displayed. Use of this feature is
commonplace when the document is the collaborative effort of several authors
and when multiple revisions and tweaks are expected.<br>
<br>
<img border=0 width=194 height=128 src="cid:image001.jpg@01C5D684.C9B35F10"><br>
<br>
<br>
In the Word formatted document provided to the media, several of these changes
are visible and include repeated replacement of names of senior Syrian and
Lebanese officials with vague descriptive titles.<br>
<br>
<img border=0 width=543 height=201 src="cid:image002.jpg@01C5D684.C9B35F10"></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>A controversy has since erupted which aims to throw
doubts over the credibility of the Mehlis Report by claiming that the
intentional omission of the actual suspect names was done at the request of
Annan. The reasoning behind that is that if Annan had the power to change the
wording of the document then the entire factual content of the report could no
longer be trusted.<br>
<br>
Aiming to allay those fears, Mehlis held a news conference this morning in NY
in which he stated that all the modifications were done by him after he learnt
that the report would be released to the media for circulation. The names
omitted were the testimony of one witness he interviewed, and while their
inclusion would be acceptable in a confidential report, he felt that a public
report should not mention specific names not yet sufficiently corroborated.
This was done before the meeting with Annan, he claimed, and thus were not the
result of any political pressure. This is supported by the fact that the first
change to be made was the deletion of the word "Confidential" from
the title page, which the public report no longer was.<br>
<br>
<img border=0 width=829 height=493 src="cid:image003.jpg@01C5D684.C9B35F10"></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>The reporters however kept coming back to one
'flaw' they noted in his explanation, which was that the Word document not only
notes the changes done to the document but also the time those changes were
made. The computer clearly states that he changes were done at 11:55 AM which
is the time Mehlis was meeting with Annan. Mehlis had no explanation for that
other than his self-stated unfamiliarity with computer software and operation,
and said "you either believe me or you don't".<br>
<br>
Please, Mr. Mehlis, allow me to come to your defense with ONE simple fact that
all of those reporters seem to have missed. In two words: TIME ZONES!<br>
<br>
You see, this report in all likelihood was written on a notebook computer.
Notebook computers are wonderful portable things that allow you to carry along
all your work and important documents and to modify and change those documents
on the fly. What they DON'T do however is automatically adjust their system
clocks to the time zones of the countries they happen to be in.<br>
<br>
So assuming that Mehlis has worked on a laptop provided by the UN in Beirut for
all the months of his investigation, it stands to good reason that that laptop
would have been set for Beirut local time (+3 GMT with daylight savings). It
also stands to very good reason that upon arriving at New York to deliver this
report the world is waiting for this investigator would not have had the
inclination or the time to go about resetting the system clock to NY local time
(-5 GMT). This means that, during his entire stay in New York, and during any
revisions that were made to the document, that system clock would have been 8
hours ahead of NY.<br>
<br>
<img border=0 width=543 height=201 src="cid:image002.jpg@01C5D684.C9B35F10"></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>Lets look at those time points again then and see
if that makes sense.<br>
<br>
Mehlis arrived at New York on October 19th 2005.<br>
He was meeting with Kofi Annan somewhere around 11:00 AM on October 20th.<br>
He was pictured handing Kofi Annan a folder with the printed copy of the report
at the start of the meeting.<br>
Logic dictates then that if Mehlis is truthful, the modification time and
printing time of that document should lie somewhere in between Oct 19th and 11
AM Oct 20th.<br>
<br>
As you can see in the pictures below, subtracting 8 hours from the time of the
deleted comments yields 3 AM Oct 20th in NY, and doing the same to the printing
time yields 7 AM Oct 20th. Makes sense, doesn't it? If however those timings
were in NY time, then that print would have been made at 2 PM NY time, which is
as we all know AFTER the meeting and MUCH EARLIER than the report was released
to the media. Doesn't make sense.</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
<img border=0 width=285 height=175 src="cid:image004.jpg@01C5D684.C9B35F10"></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>I believe you Mr. Mehlis.<br>
And thank you.<br>
<br>
Next time though, just say: "Time Zone!" and leave the room...<br>
<br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Note: Someone will suggest that this is all
somehow intentional on Mehlis' part to send an indirect message to Syrian
officials, to name names despite being asked not to, or some other grand
conspiracy. I think he's only human.</span></i> </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span lang=EN style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'>posted by Ramzi at Friday, October 21, 2005<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'><a
href="http://ramziblahblah.blogspot.com/2005/10/time-zones-watson.html">http://ramziblahblah.blogspot.com/2005/10/time-zones-watson.html</a></span></b></span></font></p>
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