The United States relationship with the Middle East has been...rocky, to say the least. The situation has become so complex, that by now, if you are not a History or Political Science major, it's more than likely you'll get confused or mislead (especially if you are an avid FOX news reader, then it gets really confusing. In an attempt to help ameliorate any anxiety over what is going on currently with Syria --since I'm sure you've all read/seen/heard things over the media, I'm going to consolidate all the information I can gather about the subject, and walk you through what been going on. Firstly, let's start with a little History facts:
On Wednesday 8/28/13 Secretary of State John Kerry announced to a news conference that the US will be going to war.
Basic Facts about Syria
2. About 22.5 million people currently reside here, according to the CIA's best estimates.
3. Syria has had it's independence since 1946.
4. The current President is Bashar al-Assad, who’s been in office since 2000. He succeeded his father who had been President since 1970.
How was in power before the Assads?
Demographics:
Median Population Age: 22.7 years old
Nationality: 90.3% Arab
This is what the demographics for the US looks like
Life Expectancy
Infant Mortality Rate
Employment Population Ratio
Female Employment Participation Rate
Unemployment Rate
Compare that to the US's current Unemployment rate of 8 right now.
Lastly, How did the Civil War break out? According to the Washington Post...
Despite government assurances that they would protect the right to peaceful protest, the massacres only increased in severity. At sites of heavy protest, the Syrian government deployed tanks and rooftop snipers, and established checkpoints to control movements.
By June, protesters were beginning to take lethal action against government troops. The final straw came in late July, when a group of Syrian army officers defected and formed the Free Syrian Army, which has come to be the largest armed resistance group"
Which brings us to now...
We'll skip on those details.
Now that you are all caught up, go tell everyone else so that they're not confused anymore.
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