Those are the opening lines to a popular Vietnam era hit by Buffalo Springfield, though they could just as well be describing the political situation in Syria today.

Indeed, there seems to be some confusion as to what exactly has been happening in Damascus these past few days. Some observers say that Assef Shawkat, the head of Syrian military intelligence, who is also the brother-in-law of President Bashar Assad, and quite possibly the second-most powerful man in Syria, has been placed under house arrest. At least this is what former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, now out of favor with the Damascus regime, told al-Mustakbal TV.

Khaddam, who has been living in exile in Paris ever since he discovered democracy shortly after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, told the Beirut-based television channel that Shawkat has been under house arrest for his participation in the killing of Imad Mughnieh, the Hezbollah commander, who was considered by numerous intelligence agencies as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists.

Khaddam, according to the same report, said that the fate of Assad's brother-in-law would be similar to that of another former inner circle high ranking official, Ghazi Kanaan, who according to Syrian authorities, committed suicide in October 2005. Or as one observer put it, "he was suicided."

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition sources report a variety of rumors regarding both Shawkat and his wife Bushra, the president's sister. She has been reported as having been seen in the French capital where she asked for, and was refused, political asylum. Other reports have sighted her in Dubai.

The pan-Arab newspaper As-Sharq al-Awsat quotes official authorities as saying Bushra and her husband have not requested asylum in France. This of course contradicts reports from Kuwaiti newspaper Assiyaseh; and Khaddam who remains adamant that serious strife persists within the presidential palace in Damascus.

Professor Joshua Landis' respected and usually well informed blog site, Syria Comment, has published the following, part of what he calls an "intelligence circular that companies pay lots of money for."

The report states that Syria initiated secret contacts with the U.S. administration of George W. Bush last month under the auspices of Turkey. The Syrian side that met with U.S. envoys in Ankara was headed by Shawkat. It would appear that Shawkat proposed to withdraw Syrian support from Hezbollah in Lebanon for two years in return for a freeze on preparatory work for the future International Penal Tribunal on the assassination of Hariri.

Shawkat was accused of overstepping his powers and placing Syria's strategic alliance with Iran at risk. The report goes on to say that Shawkat is being gradually eclipsed by the chief of the Presidential Guard and brother of the president, Maher Assad.

As the song says, there's something happening here. But it ain't exactly clear.