On August 21 2013, there was an attack in Damascus which involved the use of chemical weapons according the United Nations. More than 1,400 people, including children were gassed to death in this attack. Syria is currently in the middle of a civil war and this attack received attention around world. The use of chemical weapons is considered a war crime by international law. President Obama gave a speech on September 3 addressing the United States about his plan for action on Syria. He said that he planned on asking congress for permission to do an aerial attack on Syria in order to warn them to stop the use of chemical weapons.
On September 16, the United Nations confirmed that Syria did indeed use chemical weapons on a relatively large scale attack. Syria has agreed to a deal in which they will need to submit a list of all of their chemical weapons in stock, and international inspectors will be there in November to survey all of the chemical weapon sites. By the middle of next year Syria must have all their chemical weapons destroyed.
Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad said on September 19, that he welcomes the UN investigators and have been asking them to return to Syria to continue their investigation on chemical weapon use in his country. Al-Assad also promised that his government would comply with the deal that requires Syria to hand over and destroy all their chemical weapons. However, al-Assad said that his decision to agree to the deal did not have to do with the United States’ threat of military action.
Student Opinion: What are your thoughts on our involvement on the conflict in Syria?
“We should not intervene on our own in Syria. We are facing resistance from other countries for us to not get involved and I think we should listen.”
Matt Murry, human resource management and management senior
“We shouldn’t get involved because I think it’s too risky. I’m not convinced it is the right thing to do.”
Michaela Dale, marketing senior
“Home first, others second.”
Stephanie Collins, human resource management senior
“I think we should stay out of it and let them (Syria) deal with the problem.”
Phillip Borrego, geoscience junior
“I like the diplomacy solution. It is a nice way to make the problem go away. We can’t fight fire with fire-literally.”
Dustin Sevier, psychology senior
