The War on Terror has shaken our world to its core. It all started on September eleventh in 2001. President Bush immediately declared war on the terrorists who broke our country. We had to find the people who did this. We had to fight and kill these cynical human beings. We had to protect our country.

Fast forward to today and we are at a point in our war on terror where we don’t know where to go next. The Syrian civil war has found some Americans at a loss for words but others not so much. Peaceful Syrian protest all over the country inspired more violent crackdowns from their government. The numbers of people who have been killed is upward of 400,000. The lucky Syrian people have started to evacuate their own country, becoming refugees. Others, who are not so lucky, have become displaced. This means they are living with their families on the streets where bombs are constantly being dropped. They were forced to leave their homes, but they don’t have enough money to leave the country. The number of displaced people is in the millions as well as the number of refugees.

The conditions in these camps are so horrible — it is hard for an average American to even imagine their situation. Because of the overwhelming amount of refugees, overcrowding has become a huge problem for countries who are doing their part taking in refugees. An example of this is in Idumean Camps on Greece’s border. These camps were created for a maximum of 2,500 people, but at the moment there are over 12,000 people living there. Nonetheless, with all of these people, sanitation is unheard of and food and water supplies are scarce. Many high profile politicians have compared them to the death camps utilized by Nazi Germany.

When Americans look back on World War II, we ask ourselves, “Why didn’t we do more to help Jewish refugees?” America should help the innocent people who are living in unbearable conditions. With our extensive background checks, there is little chance that any of the refugees coming into our country will be terrorists, so we need to help these people. The refugee crisis in Syria is a situation where Americans don’t want to repeat history.