Peace and Social Justice- War

Subtitle

RST 209 Final Project

Matthew 5: 43-44


43  “You heard that it was said: ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44  However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those who persecute you"
After a long four year period of fighting, the Syrian war has killed over 250,000 people and affected about 12 million people. Some people refer to this as a civil war but, it has become much more than that. This war is a proxy war that has divided much of the Middle East, and has drawn the involvement of both Russia and the United States. This video fully explains how Syria got into this catastrophe. The timeline covers everything from the beginning of the war right up to present day and shows how the war is not close at all to a resolution. There are many sides to this war as many countries being involved, one of these countries is the United States. In 2013, the Obama administration felt that this war was a risk to national security and therefore the United States threatened a military strike. The U.S. would eventually back down from a military strike but, the action established Syria as a dispute of powers between the U.S. allied with Syrian rebels against Syrian leader Assad and Russia against terrorist organization ISIS. All of these groups and outside countries battling in Syria proves that there is just no end in sight for this war.
Source: http://static.businessinsider.com/image/525ebf74ecad04022dec763f/image.jpg
Source:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SXOCkIXsspg/UiU1-AJfNoI/AAAAAAAACo4/ijgmNbqsXhE/s640/Syria-Weekly_deaths.PNG

Annotated Bibliography


Rodgers, Lucy, David Gritten, James Offer, and Patrick Asare. "Conflict Background." I AM SYRIA. BBC News, 9 Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.


This article talks about how the Syrian civil war started. It all started as an uprising for Democracy but lately it has been a battle between different rebel groups in the country. The groups who are at war in Syria are basically the people that are against the government that has been running the country since 1971. People say that the Syrian war has to be one of the most deadliest wars there has been since the Second World War because of the million people that are being killed. 

There has been a lot of refugees fleeing the country in search for a better life than they have been living in Syria. There has been almost 20 million people that have lost their homes and basically their whole entire life. There are a lot of countries that have been accepting Syrian refugees and offering them a better place to live. It's just hard for families since they are leaving everything behind. 


Gottlieb, Roger S. Liberating Faith: Religious Voices for Justice, Peace, and Ecological Wisdom. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print. "Speak Truth to Power" by American Friends Service Committee (464-466)

 This passage talks about how military power in today’s world is incompatible with freedom, incapable of providing security, and ineffective in dealing with evil. Quakers speak to the power in three senses: “To those who hold high places in our national life and bear the terrible responsibility of making decisions for war or peace. To the American people who are the final reservoir of power in this country. To the idea of Power itself, and its impact on twentieth-century life.” (page 464). In the Sermon on the Mount it looks to change the attitude of the opponent rather than to force his submission through violence. It is an effort to overcome evil with good. The insights of nonviolence include, the oneness of man, the sacredness of human personality, the creative nature of love, and the necessity for self-examination. Evil cannot overcome evil, and the end does not justify the means. When evil is fought with evil, we tend to become the evil that we seek to overcome. The way to overcome wars is to place our love and trust into God. 

 


Gottlieb, Roger S. Liberating Faith: Religious Voices for Justice, Peace, and Ecological Wisdom. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print. "Resisting the Forces of Death" and "No' to the Vietnam War" by Henri Nouen (467- 475)

   

Henri Nouen is puzzled by the idea people did not rise up and question the holocaust like he does today. Nouen then discusses the arms race and how people should say “No” to the arms race. The author emphasizes saying “No” rather than just recognize the problem. He emphasizes the power of society working together.

 The author discusses the danger of the nuclear arms race and again emphasizes on the fact of saying “No”. I believe he uses the matter to say “No” to the forces of death to actively standing up for non-violence. 

 At the end of the article the author reflects on his childhood and how he would wish to fail before he even succeeds. Nouen plunges into this topic deeper and explains that people should say “No” to wanting the easy way out and choosing death instead of “precarious life”. 


Rodgers, Lucy. "The Story of Conflict." Bbc.com. N.p., 11 Mar. 2016. Web.

  

This article posted on BBC.com focuses on the main conflicts surrounding the Syrian War. The article is composed of eight parts, each part focusing on a different aspect of the war. The first part of this article shows how the war started, Democracy protests were happening in the city of Deraa when security forces opened fire killed many innocent protestors. This triggered outrage throughout the country causing riots demanding President Assad's resignation. This triggered a civil war in the country of Syria with so far an estimated total of 250,000 deaths, many were innocent people as a result of war crimes. This conflict is not getting better, it is actually getting worse but the rise of hardcore Islamists and jihadists whose brutal tactics have caused global outrage. This has now resulted in a proxy war that has gained regional and world powers to join the battle thus, showing how there is truly no end in sight.


Fantz, Ashley. "War on ISIS: Who's Doing What?" CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.
   
This article posted on CNN.com focuses on the rise of ISIS and who is really fighting ISIS. ISIS came to power when there was no control of Syria and a group of extreme Islamists began to set their goals to create their own Islamic state in Syria. This had led the terrorist group to many attacks causing global attention and thus asking the question on who is going to fight the terrorist organization.
The United States has gotten involved in Syria for the reason of national security and therefore fighting ISIS. The United states and their allies have begun to fight ISIS after they started attack countries such as France, assassinating U.S. citizens on video, and making threats of their next attacks. The main way of fighting ISIS in this war has been aerial attacks of dropping bombs in Iraq and Syria. The aerial attacks are helping target ISIS but also creating causalities of innocent citizens of Iraq and Syria. Many bombs have been dropped by countries such as: the United States, France, Russia, Australia, and Canada but the terrorist organization is still in power therefore the question is raised; are airstrikes enough to defeat the worlds most dangerous terrorist organization and achieve peace?   

For more information on the United States involvement:

https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_involvement_in_Syria

This website focuses on the views of United States politicians on the involvement on the Syrian War. Ballotpedia offers views from Republicans and Democrats who support and oppose the United States involvement. The website also shows the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Syria Resolution and their votes on whether United States should be involved. The vote comes out to 10-7 in favor of being involved in Syria which shows how the decision whether to be involved was not unanimous and therefore it is still debated on whether the United States should be involved in Syria.