By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years

Syria's wounded interior minister cut short his treatment at a Beirut hospital Wednesday and returned home for fear of being arrested by Lebanese authorities, while Syria's chief of military police defected to the opposition, becoming one of the highest-ranking officers to switch sides.

Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called for him to be prosecuted for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.