Syrian Problem

The problems in Syria began in 2011 as a peaceful protest but quickly rose into an armed civil conflict which has cost the lives of 100,000 people and forced over two million to flee to the relative safety of neighboring countries. This conflict has captured the world’s attention because of the tactics employed by the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Unarmed civilians were attacked and killed by government troops as they searched for the most effective and seemingly brutal method for quelling this uprising. Now there are some US politicians, who feel that it is the duty of our country to get involved militarily, but this with two wars already fought the past ten years, there seems to be little to no public support for this type of move. The United States is not the world’s policeman and should let countries solve their own problems.

Freedom

The conflict in Syria actually began as a response to the government’s very harsh and public punishment of some youths who were arrested for placing anti government graffiti on buildings. The punishments were seen as unjust and many took to the streets in protest. At that time, Egypt had just recently gone through a similar uprising and through the power of social media, toppled their government and established a democracy. The Syrian leadership wanted nothing like this to take place so they hit the protesters hard and violently. The hope was to squash any resistance to the government and consolidate their power. At first the protesters just wanted democracy and of course the resignation of Bashar al-Assad, when these demands were met with brutality and murder, and the president promised change if the protests ended. However the protesters didn’t believe him so they continued to fight on.

Chemical Weapons

There has been a further cry for foreign intervention when it was learned that the government supposedly used chemical weapons against their own citizens while fighting against the rebels. The use of chemical weapons has been banned because of the inhumane effect they had during World War I. The world was outraged but all they had proof of was that chemical weapons were definitely used, but there was no proof which side used them. The Syrian government claims that it had nothing to do with this attack.

Conclusion

Syria is embroiled in a civil conflict that is tearing the country apart and the use of chemical weapons has made the US, France and Great Britain as well as the United Nations take issue with Syria. With the US occupied to its limit militarily there is little chance that an armed foreign intervention will take place. The status quo government stays in power and the rebels fight for democracy.