Henil P Patel

Jessica Morton
UWRT 1102
4 April 2016
Annotated Bibliography: What is terrorism, who are refugees and their life in other countries, is
there a credible background check system present

Altman, Alex. This is how the Syrian refugee screening process works.time.com TIME,
17 Nov 2015, Web. 31 March 2016.
This is an article by Alex Altman about the current Syrian refugees background check
present in the United States. The author explains the vetting process step by step and explains
each one of them in detail. Like the first step is to apply for aid through UN and then the UN
considers only few of the applicants to be relocated on the basis of humanitarian grounds due to
war and violence in applicants area. Then the applicants background is then checked by the UN
and they try to relocate this refugee to any other country by considering various factors like
refugees abilities to mix in a particular type of environment, personalities and where the refugee
will be able to settle. This article talks about the current screening system used for the Syrian
refugees entering United States of America. The US receives the information from UN and then
it starts its own vetting process by using the applicants fingerprints and running background
checks on applicant. After the approval of 9 agencies the applicant is allowed to enter USA. As

the author says US has accepted 18000 Syrian refugees most of them are children and 25% of
them are adults above the age of 60 and only 2% of them are single men of combat age. I think
that this source is credible and even though this is the most intensive vetting process a group
entering US goes through as per author, yet we cannot guarantee if one of them turns out to be
terrorists. Even the director of FBI Mr. James Comey also said that there is no 100% sureness in
this process also. I think that the source is not biased.

Hansen, Lauren and Eberspacher, Sarah. Life inside Syrian refugee camps.
theweek.com. The week. Nd WEB. 31 March 2016.

This source contains the photos of the Syrian refugees conducting their daily activities in
refugee camps set up in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and turkey on the border between Syria and
its surrounding countries. There are many pictures like washing clothes, eating, learning in a
school, children playing, a bride getting ready for her wedding, small children fetching water,
friends cutting each others hairs and other activities in a refugee camp. By seeing this pictures
we can see the problems they are facing like how a mother has to bath her child in open in a
small tub. I think that these source is accurate because photographs never lie.
People know about the Syrian refugee crisis but very few people exactly know the
conditions in which these refugees are living. I think that if the authors might have interviewed
some people around the camp would also be informative and provide a solid proof to this
pictures also but I still believe that A picture says thousand words is true for this particular
case as once can easily see and imagine the physical conditions where these people are living. I

believe that if the authors had Interviewed some people we could get some more data about the
happenings there and may be able to compare which country has a better refugee camp.

Mackay, Mairi and King, Jessica. Shoot us or help us: 3 stories from Syrian refugees
You need to read. CNN cable network, 27 November 2015. Web. 22 March 2016

This is an article on CNN explaining the current refugee crisis in Middle Eastern
countries right now due to ISIS. This article on CNN explains who this refugees are, why do they
want to go to other countries? And peoples reaction to the Europe and Sweden closing their
doors to them. There are 2 videos along with it, the one explains who refugees are and in the
second one the Syrian refugees are asked on why are they fleeing Syria and what they wish to get
in other counties and the risks they take to get out of Syria?
There are also 2-3 pictures of people protesting against the European countries on not
allowing them to enter other European counties. These refugees talk about the emotional trauma
that they are passing through and the feeling of leaving behind their home in order to lead a safe
peaceful life. Most of these refugees are younger some of them are children some are in their
twenties and some are old.
When I saw the video I got sad and felt helpless when I head their stories on how they
left Syrian and the risks on their way. These people are right now seeking asylum in no mans
land between Syria and Europe. I think that this source is accurate as the people are interviewed
and we can hear the stories about these people and their journey trying to leave Syrian many of

their loved ones also get killed sometimes due between the crossfires between ISIS and security
forces. This article is not biased it only contains facts and interviews which I think are true. This
article is connected with the other sources on the process of their arrival and its aftermath. It is a
credible source of information.
Nielsen, Laura. What is Terrorism. www.aljazeera.com AlJaeera, 17 April 2013
Print. 31 March 2016.

This is an article on Al Jazeera English on web written by Laura Nielson. She raises
questions like what is terrorism. When is an act considered as a terrorist activity and the author
also says that there is no perfect definition to define terrorism. The author gives the example of
Boston bombing and starts her argument by can that be defined as terrorism at first without any
investigation and the effects of it calling a terrorism act. Can the usage of the word terrorism be
related to political agenda? As the example from the article that one reason to use the word
"terrorist" is simply pragmatic. When the police say this incident will be "investigated and
treated like terrorism", it could indicate that more sophisticated resources will be brought to bear
to find the perpetrator(s) is the significance of the word terrorism. I think that using the phrase a
terrorism act has a different psychological impact on our minds as compared to listening a
mentally ill act. I think that this source is accurate and it is not biased.

Salopek, Paul. Fleeing Terror, Finding Refuge. National Geographic

.Ngm.nationalgeographic.com March 2015. Web. 31 March 2016.

Paul Salopek starts by defining who can be called refugees, what refugee crisis is, when it
starts and its effect on the people living in that area. This source describes the life of Syrian
refugees in turkey. There are 1.6 million Syrian refugees in turkey right now and more and more
are coming each day. Turkey has been helping these refugees settle but the lately the Turkish
residents are protesting against these refugees. Many of these refugees are discriminated. These
refugees work as slaves in exchange for rent and shelter.

The lower class Turkish people are losing their business to the Syrian refugees because
these refugees work for lower wages than a normal Turkish resident. Paul has also interviewed
many refugees, many of these refugees are very sad because they had to leave their home and
country behind. Syrian refugees talk about the difficulties they are facing and the emotional
trauma they have to go through just for a peaceful living.
These refugees also talk about the incidents they are facing in these camps like many
women are getting marriage proposals. I think that this source is credible as the author has
interviewed many people and then he combines and talks about the situation there. The author
also uses data released by United Nations so I think that this source is credible as all of the
people author has interviewed feel the same way in this refugee camps. I dont think it is a biased
source as well can relate to the fact on how we would feel to leave our home and country behind
knowing that we may never be able to go back to that place.