Gosh, I never saw this coming.
It's almost April. This is usually the time when the world goes crazy. Think we may have bitten off more than we can chew?
(See my ramblings from last October, below, on the Syrian Accountablitiy Act.)

March 17, 2004
As Many as 6 Kurds Die in 4th Day of Unrest in Syria
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

AMASCUS, Syria, March 16 -- Kurdish protesters and Syrian security forces clashed violently again in several northern cities on Tuesday, with up to six people killed, Kurdish and human rights activists said.

The deadly confrontations erupted on a day when thousands of Kurds held public vigils to mark the anniversary of the Iraqi use of chemical weapons against residents of Halabja in northern Iraq in 1988.

The commemoration is usually peaceful, but this year it followed several days of tension across the Kurdish areas of northern Syria. Some 15 people were shot dead after clashes erupted at a soccer match on Friday.

The unrest comes at a particularly anxious moment for the Syrian government, under pressure at home for greater openness and from Washington to abandon its development of chemical weapons and crack down on organizations the United States accuses of terrorism.

Full Story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/international/middleeast/17SYRI.html?pagewanted=print&position=