Journal 4

 Journal 4 Entry

The purpose of this article was to give detail into the Syrian civil war that has been going on. The writer describes that al-Assad has been reelected for a third time, which is bad for the country of Syria because Assad’s way of gaining power is by terrorizing his own people through gassing or murdering them in their own towns. The United States and European politicians are working together to train an army in Syria, known as the opposing side, to fight Assad and the ISIS in order to redeem the land of Syria. Assad must be defeated shortly before the ISIS causes mass destruction, as they are capable of doing. This article talks mainly about the ISIS and the problems in Syria, leaving Iraq out except when talking about the ISIS occupying the northern boarders and forming a pact with the Syrian army fighting for ISIS.

This author argues points against the ISIS attacks in Syria. He states the Syrian people have no chance because Assad is attacking them at night with gas bombs where the people have no chance to take cover beforehand. The Syrian civil war, he claims, must be stopped soon otherwise the ISIS will only get stronger. Help is needed in this area because the people of Syria are in too much trouble to resolve any peace between themselves without outsiders stepping in to help. Too many people are being butchered and forced from their homeland to allow this war to continue. He argues that without the US and Europe stepping in, this country will turn to total ISIS control as the people do not have a strong enough army to attack. This is where the US and Europe need to step in by training soldiers and providing supplies to that the Syrian war can be settled and the ISIS can be shut down.

Although this piece gives me a lot of inside towards the Syrian civil war, it does not help my research that much in regards to what American is currently doing to help resolve some of these conflicts. I argue that if this civil war continues, the Americans should step in and train the civilians to protect themselves. However, I do not think that America should train these people to directly fight the ISIS themselves. The ISIS has too much power for ordinary people to try and take down. The United Nations needs to come together and form an attack against this group because if the ISIS continues to gain land at this rate, a massive terrorist attack could be launched any day.

I need to find more articles that deal directly with America’s involvement with the ISIS. I am more concerned with this group gaining power and having the opportunity to launch a massive terrorist attack than I am with the Syrian civil war. I am still trying to find out what countries are trying to help stop the ISIS but all of the articles just describe what this terrorist group is currently doing to the innocent people of the Middle East. I have recently read about Turkey and the US forming an agreement to send relief and money to this area, so I am going to try and find an article that describes this new relationship in detail.