Syria Seminar Article

          The current situation in Syria is not looking good.  An ongoing civil war has caused the Syrian government to use chemical weapons on their own people.  The group I observed definitely seemed to be confident with the words that they were saying and they definitely had done their research.  Early on, a main focus point of this group was the history behind this civil war and also the different groups that are involved in this war.  They talked a lot about the past to get a better understanding of the topic they were discussing.

One option that was discussed during this meeting was whether to flee the small town that they lived in currently or whether to flee the town looking for a refugee camp.  Some pros of fleeing that town is the thought that their families would be safer is they fled to a refugee camp.  One con however is the debate on whether or not refugee camps are as safe as they sound.  Another good thing is that they chance of them being attacked at a refugee camp is smaller than the chance of them being attacked in their town.  Another bad thing however is that going to a refugee camp would only be a temporary solution and they were discussing whether temporary safety was worth leaving their old lives behind.  Throughout the group, it seemed as though people were split on whether to flee or not.

Next, another discussion topic that they went over was whether or not they supported foreign intervention in their country. Every single one of the people in this discussion agreed that they supported foreign intervention.  They all agreed that they needed help from an outside source mainly because their own government is suspected of committing the chemical attack.  Also, the people agreed that allowing foreign intervention into their country would reduce the number of casualties rather than if nobody stepped in.  They thought this mainly because the civil war that had plagued their country had caused over 100,000 deaths already and if nobody stepped in, then the death count would only increase. 

My opinion on the first point is that the people at the meeting should flee their town.  I believe they should do this because if they stay then they have a higher chance of being attacked.  I would think that safety would be their number one priority, especially if they have a family to take care of.  Even though they had their doubts whether the refugee camp was as safe as it seemed to be, I believe it is a better option than to stay in their town. 

On the other subject, I agree with the entire group that foreign intervention is a good idea.  If my country was in a civil war and it put myself and possibly my family in danger, I would be upset if other countries didn’t do anything to help us.  I think the people in the group made the right choice on this subject.