The U.S. is bustling with talk of military intervention in Syria due to the possibility of

chemical weapons being implemented in their war by the Syrian government.

The civil war taking place in Syria has been a calamity which has demanded the attention of many United States civilians ever since it began, and with the recent developments of a possible strike from the U.S. military stirring up turmoil from anti-war activists and those advocating the attack, a question is begging to be answered. What is a chemical weapon and why is it any worse than a conventional one?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines chemical warfare as: “tactical warfare using incendiary mixtures, smokes, or irritant, burning, poisonous, or asphyxiating gases”. But how is this weapon so powerful as to make the president of the United States draw a “red line” for the regime in Syria, when the use of high explosives and firearms is allowable?

Chemical weapons encompass a vast variety of virulent mess, which can be categorized as choking, blister, blood, or nerve agents. These agents are contained and delivered onto battlefields and strike points during times of war. Some of them inflict your respiratory tract, causing you to choke, others can cause your blood cells to stop the use of oxygen, effectively suffocating the body.

Rebel officials tell us that some 1,400 people have been killed in the suburban areas of Damascus as the result of the Syrian regime executing chemical attacks in the area, the chemical deployed was identified as the nerve agent sarin.

Nerve agents are believed to be the higher of the five evils, in the sense that it is considered the most toxic and rapid of the others. Sarin itself is an alarmingly volatile and fast-acting agent which can cause your body to “turn off”, by  shutting down glands and muscles exposed to the chemical. A certainly horrific and inhumane practice which has the U.N. prohibiting its use as per our Geneva Protocol agreement, proposed and signed after the events of World War I.

To the Obama administration this atrocity means war, or at least a military attack, but while Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to negotiate with the Syrian regime to turn over its chemical weapons, Putin and the Syrian President himself Bashar Assad have been pushing for the U.S. to abandon military threats against Syria, as to proceed further with their plans to negotiate.

We’ve agreed to end military threats to Syria and let negotiations with Syria run its course. We’re waiting, but not too patiently.

“The United States keeps a variety of options on the table, all the time,” says Mr. Belanger after finishing his fourth period U.S. History class. In his class, Syria is a topic of interest for the students and their current event assignments. “Some students feel we are obligated to help other nations in crisis, while others feel the U.S. should not police the world.”

The student body seems to be bisected by the incident in Syria; one group wants us to begin military intervention and the other wishes us to not involve ourselves in any more war scenarios.  “Finding a diplomatic solution to the chemical weapons problem seems to have been a positive move.” Belanger says.

President Bashar Assad continues to deny any evidence of his involvement in the incident in Ghouta and pins the blame on the rebels. “Sarin gas,” Assad says in a recent interview with Fox News, “ it’s called a kitchen gas. Do you know why? Because, anyone can make sarin in his house.” The delivery device, a missile warhead, was even azimuth tracked back to the Republican Guard’s headquarters, yet the regime still denies their involvement.

While we continue in the struggle for the seizure of Syria’s chemical weapon arsenal, but to no foreseeable avail, we are growing more and more suspicious of Syria’s willingness to hand over their weapons and if this talk will ever give of us any answers. With such high tensions some predict that if things were to take a turn for the worse we could find ourselves in a World War III scenario. Though for the moment, the U.S. will continue to buzz with news of Syria and the negotiations until further progress.