To the Editor:

Due to recent events in the Middle East, Syrian refugees have been flooding into different countries all over the world in order to escape the chaos of the ongoing conflicts. This is putting a strain on many government agencies looking to help the refugees. The White House announced a plan to accept at least 10,000 refugees.

While I don’t believe that we should turn them away at the border, the United States government needs to convince the Syrian people to pick up arms and fight for their country.

But that proves to be harder than expected, since the failed $1 million train-and-equip program for Syria has been deemed a failure since it has not produced a single capable fighter. Now I don’t believe that America should get directly involved in the fight, but it should do something to convince the Syrian masses to push back.

It seems the only one doing anything is Russian President Vladimir Putin with his recent air strikes in Syria in an attempt to help President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Putin’s ally in the Middle East. One problem that America faces when trying to aid the refugees is President Obama doesn’t want the Syrian president to keep his seat in office.

Although many can see why Obama is wary about aiding Syrian fighters due to America and Russia being on opposing sides of the conflict, with Putin pushing to cement President al-Assad’s place as president and Obama trying to overthrow him. That action is seconded by crucial allies surrounding the area. Now almost 3 million refugees have fled Syria in order to escape the civil war ravaging their country. This has become one of the largest forced migrations since World War II.

Many countries are just taking them in. Don’t these people want to fight for what they believe in or just run away and let this situation just blow over while hoping that the side they support wins? This goes the same for the President — is nothing that he can do to resolve the conflict or is he just going to just let his country tear itself apart?

Now I do understand that it’s not as easy as a simple agreement, but from what I understand about the conflict, just a small settlement from both parties could prove a good starting point in not only ending the conflict but building a better tomorrow for the people of Syria and possibly calling the refugees back home.

I feel that if a solution to this conflict is not found, this could soon turn in to a conflict that expands far beyond Syrian borders to possibly include world powers pitted against each other, such as Russia against the United States.

That outcome would lead to a worst case scenario of a World War II.

Matt Kerkes