Talia Graves

Brian Ray
10/17/16
Comp II
America, and The War In Syria

The war crisis in Syria is not something that the United States is unfamiliar with, and our
history shows that clearly through wars like WWII, Vietnam, and so forth. People are in need,
people need help, America comes to the rescue, right? Not necessarily, though. In Aleppo, Syria
alone, over 11.5 percent of the population has already been erased by government forces, with up
to 20 people dying every week by jet fighters raining down treacherous bombs that light up a
whole city at a time. If the idea that President Assad of Syria is the leader of these deadly raids
on citizens doesnt shake you enough, the fact that Syrias population is made of 44 percent
children should do the trick. The question that is up for grabs is what America's role should be;
To intervene, or to not. But as this question is thrown around at political tables and presidential
debates, families are being torn apart limb by limb. There is no question that Syria will cease to
exist without outside forces intervening through the horror, unless that help arrives just a little
too late. In this essay, I will be researching the causes, effects, and possible outcomes of the war
in Syria through reliable sources. It will conclude me to one final question, why should America
help?
While looking more into the topic of Syria, I questioned how people did not know about
the horror that was going on. I figured it was impossible to deny such tragics events, so I decided
to conduct a survey that consisted of two main questions; Do you know about the Syrian war?
How do you feel about the refugee crisis? Being apart of a collegiate women's soccer team, there

comes many advantages, and not just with scholarships. My team consists of 7 international
players who range from places like Germany, England, Spain, Norway, and even Africa. With
this, I found an excellent opportunity to not only survey people who live in America, but to also
compare American responses with foreign responses.
I conducted my first interview with a teammate of mine that is attending University of
Arkansas at Little Rock, but is formally from Germany. I sought out to interview her because of
a recent article I read over about Germany and the influx of Syrian refugees that have flowed
into her home country. The article and its title, germany expects up to 30000 refugees in 2016,
explains itself clearly. The article formally written by a largely known newsletter named The
Guardian, tells the struggle of countries and their growing rate of refugees. My interviewee
spoke to me about her point of view on refugees from Syria, I found her opinion extremely
helpful because the crisis affected her in both positive and negative ways. She exclaimed to me
how there are many Germans are fearful that the Syrian refugees will cause harm to their
community, that they are all radical with their views, with human life; That they are a threat to
their society. This idea however, was not similar to my interviewee. She explained that although
many are fearful, fear is not a good enough justice to turn your head away from people in need.
I found her words captivating. Through the violence, chaos, and death Syria has enountered, how
can one turn away?
This question fascinated me, and I found myself caught between my own ideals, and the
complete opposition of my ideals through my next interview. Upon writing this paper, my main
concern and focus was figuring out why so many Americans were against Syrian refugee intake.
To find relevant scenarios, I interviewed a girl on my team formally from America, someone
whom I knew was a republican, someone I knew who was very conservative. I found her opinion

to be very important in helping me understand a different ideal, because over half of America
held the exact same one. I began the interview with basic questions, do you know about the war
in Syria? What is your opinion on what is happening there? Her answers didnt come as much of
a surprise. She didnt know much about the war, she had seen a few things on facebook about
people being bombed, and some sad stories about children being killed. However through her
little knowledge about the war, even through the sad stories she had seen, she strongly opposed
America's part in helping. Her explanation was simple, and highly popular in America, especially
through a Republican standpoint. America is always the nation to go to the rescue for these
other countries. We have people dying here, thats who we should be helping. Her argument
reminded me of an article over Trump supporters and their perspectives of Syrian refugees. The
article written by Idrees Ali, stated that 85% of people that stated they voted for trump said that
they saw Islamic refugees fleeing a terrorist situation as an extreme threat to society. This
perception has grown at an extreme rate, causing major problems at political tables. Although my
interviewee had completely opposing beliefs than I held myself, her answers opened my eyes to
the larger problem at hand; Awareness.
After much research, I found an article that almost explained it all. The article, 5 Facts
about Syrian Refugees and Americans, stated the exact reasons many Americans saw Syria as a
threat. The article mentioned the five most abundant reasons why America was so hesitant to
accept refugees; congress, presidential candidates, public, and Governors. Each one explained
the extreme impact that these factors had on the US people and the ultimate influence that led to
the opposing beliefs. Although the impact people of power have, especially the presidential
candidate Donald Trump, over peoples beliefs skyrockets when fear is brought into the scenario.
When terrorists attack American lands and radical extremists commit suicide for god, it puts a

large toll on what the American people feel is right for their country. That is the major problem,
fear. When someone is scared, it clouds the rest of their vision beyond the problem at hand. The
idea to overcome fear is to do whatever is necessary to help yourself out of the situation, usually
ignoring the other party in the equation. And in this situation, the fear set into the minds of many
of the American people has allowed them to turn their heads away from a problem that is larger
than many known.
What is that problem exactly? In an article from a Syrian refugee named Why I Am in
America, a woman tells a story of her life. However the story is not a story at all, but rather a
nightmare. The woman explains that she is a victim of the horrors left behind by the Islamic
Radical group, ISIS. She tells the story of how she was taken from her family and raped, she tells
how her brother was kidnapped and tortured till he could not hold on any longer. She tells of how
she should be dead, but the bullet meant for her head hit her sisters instead. But the moral of the
story is larger than a simple read, but rather shows why Syrian Immigrants flee to other
countries. They flee to escape the horror, to escape a nightmare. In the article, she pointed out
how insane it felt to know that thousands of people are dying by the hands of evil, while other
countries turn their shoulders. How is it possible to ignore something this big?
After interviewing many Americans and even those from other countries, while also
researching into the war and into the minds of the American people, I found the biggest problems
America held were simple and straight to the point; Fear and lack of awareness. I found a direct
split between America, which was cut between those opposing refugees and those accepting
them. When speaking to a girl that I interviewed who was from America, she explained to me
that she kept up with the issue in Syria frequently through news pages on Facebook and other
sites, and what she found was a graphic reality. The things happening there (Syria) do not even

seem real, but they are, and that is what scares me the most.We spoke together about the video
of a little boy sitting in an ambulance covered in blood of others, while doctors frantically ran
about putting more and more people into the ambulance among them. We agreed on how eye
opening the video was for the both of us, and we spoke about how the boy sat there and acted as
if nothing had happened, as if it was just another day. But to him it was just another day, because
when you live in a place where 450,000 people (55,000 of which are children) have died at the
hands of complete evil, a bombing attack seems so Normal. My interviewee supported the
intake of Syrian refugees, and she asked me how someone could be against it after knowing all
that her and I knew. But that was the problem, not everyone knew everything that we had.
According to a recent statistic, 63% of American people felt that we had no need to be help
Syria. However, a recent poll showed that 60% of people also said that they do not closely follow
the war in Syria. These extreme percentages show that many Americans feel they have no need
to help the refugees of Syria, but they also have no idea why Syrian refugees want to flee in the
first place. This is where the problem of awareness becomes major. Although the percentages
favor the opposings of syrian refugees, it has not always been that way. An article by Elizabeth
McElvein, What Do Americans really think about Syrian Refugees, she brought up a huge factor
into the impact fear has on peoples ideas. She stated that before the attacks on Paris by a
terrorist group that killed many, most Americans were in favor of Syrian refugees. In fact, many
people favored going overseas and helping while also accepting the influx of Syrians. But after
the attack, that number spiraled down immensely. This proved my idea that fear played a huge
role in what American people thought of Syrians.
After my research, I have learned much more about what I myself can do to help
American people and their views of Syrian refugees. I realized that fear and a lack of awareness

are of the two most important factors when it comes to America and Syrian refugees. But as my
first interviewee from Germany stated before, fear is not a good enough justice to turn away
from people in need. If Syria does not receive the help they so desperately need, like a country
willing to accept their people, the country will stand no longer. America is based upon its
diversity of all races and religions, it is a forgiving nation, an empathetic nation that promises
safety and freedom. But when it comes to the Syrian War crisis, American people seem to forget
the nation and what it means to be an American.

Sources
McElvein, Elizabeth. "What Do Americans Really Think about Syrian Refugees?" Brookings. N.p.,
28 July 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
"Trump Supporters See Iraqi, Syrian Refugees as Major Threat: Report." Reuters. Thomson
Reuters, 05 May 2016. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
"Death Tolls." I AM SYRIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
@TommyXtopher. "Polls: Americans Who Dont Know About Syria Dont Want U.S. To Get
Involved." Mediaite Polls Americans Who Dont Know About Syria Dont Want US To Get Involved
Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.