Refugee crisis

When a story continues for months or even years, it goes from being attention grabbing to being virtually ignored by the public. Such is the situation with the refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria. The civil war in Syria began in 2011 during the mideast unrest known as the Arab Spring. The resistance movements came and went as the war dragged on, and then competition for control of areas in Syria caused violence between the anti-Assad forces. It was during this period that western nations became aware of ISIS.

When ISIS attacked Iraq, the Iraqi forces abandoned weapons, munitions, vehicles, tanks and armored personnel carriers while offering little resistance. Not only did ISIS enhance its reputation by defeating the better equipped and larger Iraqi force, they were now a well-equipped, more experienced military force.

The al-Assad government in Syria, it is estimated, now controls only 25 percent of the country's land area. They have managed to hold onto that by the use of chemical weapons, mass executions and aerial attacks against their citizens. While the nations of the world have condemned these actions and the citizens of Syria have begged for help, they have received irregular and sporadic assistance, while much of the humanitarian aid has been stolen by ISIS.

No reasonable person can expect Syrian civilians to simply starve, do without medical care and huddle in fear in a combat zone. Millions have tried to escape, and many of them have died trying. European nations are now faced with accepting millions of refugees fleeing war.

The well-circulated photo of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian boy who washed ashore in early September on a Turkish beach, was the call to the world to take action. It is past time for talk and it is time for the world to unite in a coalition and throw whatever is needed to destroy those whose actions are killing children. European nations and those in the Mid-East threatened by ISIS need to unite and overpower this enemy.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.