Video released purporting to show ISIS beheading captured American journalist James Foley
ISIS has released a video purporting to show the beheading of American journalist James Wright Foley, who had been missing for almost two years. The video, which also threatens to do the same to a man identified as American journalist Steven Sotloff, will not be linked to on this blog.
Foley had gone missing in northwest Syria in November of 2012, and Sotloff, a reporter for Time, had disappeared in mid-2013, perhaps in Libya. ISIS accompanied the video with a message that:
…U.S. President Barack Obama’s authorization of strikes against the group places the United States “upon a slippery slope towards a new war front against Muslims,” according to BNO.
“Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny Muslims liberty & safety under the Islamic caliphate, will result in the bloodshed of your people,” the ISIS person added.
Foley also speaks in the video, saying: “I call on my friends, family members and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the U.S. government.”
There is a longer version of Foley’s statement here. Apparently he was reading it, and it is difficult if not impossible to know whether he meant his words or not. Perhaps Foley thought that if he read the statement his captors might spare his life, although his words indicate that he fully expected them to kill him. If the video is for real—and so far there is no indication whatsoever that it is not—his statement would have to have been made while he was under an extraordinarily extreme form of coercion and dread.
Ever since the video of the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl was released in early 2002, the world has known that Islamic terrorists are fully capable of such things and are extremely eager to brag about them. The purpose of such acts and the publicity that follows is manifold: to inspire other jihadis with the extremity of their savagery, and to intimidate the west by sowing widespread horror and fear and ultimately capitulation—and, if not capitulation, then retaliation, which can then be used to fire up even more terrorism, in an ever-increasing spiral of blood and gore.
This is barbaric evil, and although it has the purposes described in the previous paragraph, it cannot be really “understood,” only fought:
If it were necessary to fully understand evil in order to fight it, World War II would have never been won by the Allies. What is necessary is to be able to recognize evil and see it for what it is quite early in the game. Those are the important first steps. The next steps are finding the will and the tools to fight it. Evil is very strong, because it doesn’t know the same restraints and limits as morality or good.
To the family of James Wright Foley, deep and heartfelt condolences. To the family of Steven Sotloff, hopes and prayers that he will not meet the same fate. But ISIS is not just their enemy. It is an enemy to all civilized people.
Neo: I’m glad you won’t link the video. I made the mistake in 2002 (was it that long ago?) of watching part – – too much – – of the Daniel Pearl video and have regretted it ever since.
These people are monsters. These are not human beings in any sense that we will ever understand or be able to reason with. We need to isolate and wage war on them until they’re utterly defeated and living in the Stone Age to which they belong. And screw political correctness; it’s steadily killing our very civilization!
Until the west realizes deep in the bone that we are at no quarter given war with islam, the atrocities will continue. My first step, given the power, would be to turn mecca, medina, and a few dozen ‘holy sites’ into glass parking lots for a few thousand years. We need to assume the mantel of the great satan and burn all their playhouses down. They worship death for virgins, lets give them death and let allah recruit the virgins.
And how will the Left react? I expect the Leftists I know will simply say “Well, Bush shouldn’t have started it.”
For all kinds of reason, these atrocities are nearly ignored. We will wind up as slaves if something is not done to stop them.
Fight to win.
Fight until the fight is won.
And what else do we need to make sure Iran gets nukes?
Carl in Atlanta:
“We need to isolate and wage war on them until they’re utterly defeated and living in the Stone Age to which they belong.”
Yep, but, I go one further – they need to be dead! not living anywhere or at any time.
And CapnRusty, I have already heard some folks blame the whole thing on Bush as you have said they would – “Bush never should have started it.”
Well, sadly, Bush did NOT start it, he simply followed up on the stuff they were doing – trying (maybe not succeeding; but trying any way) to make a difference. That is a whole heck of a lot more than Clinton or Obama did or have tried to do.
And lastly, I would love to see us knock off the PC nonsense – when we kill these savages they do NOT get any kind of decent burial – certainly not one of their “religion.” Bury them with swine flesh. And if more Muslims get up angry about that – well, they are our enemy too.
Margaret Hassan.
CapnRusty,
And they’ll say that with no thought at all about the consequences of Obama’s policy choices, especially where he fundamentally deviated from Bush.
I don’t know what James Foley’s actual beliefs were.
Perhaps he read that statement under threat of torture.
I do know that there are plenty of leftists in America who agree with every word of it, and will happily recite it from memory without being threatened at all.
Those people are every bit as much enemies of civilization as the Muslims are.
And the media is chock full of them.
From the link:
How much do we want to bet that Obama makes a very bland, bloodless statement condemning “violence”?
Well, well, well.
James Foley Went Looking to Support Terrorists in Syria, Instead They Cut Off His Head
Color me shocked. Not.
rickl:
If you read the comments at that link, it seems it’s not completely clear what his attitude was.
Obama will do nothing.
@rickl:
How much do we want to bet that Obama makes a very bland, bloodless statement condemning “violence”?
I’d put those odds at 100 percent.
Worst. President. Ever.
Well, the answer’s in: Foley was an Islamist sympathizer, himself!
He’ spent the last five-years traveling with the fanatics — making him, literally, a fellow traveler.
At all times he’s been a spokesman for the Islamist ‘project’ or campaign.
So, it would be as likely as not, that he wrote his own jisei. (A death haiku, the Samurai tradition upon the rite of seppuku.)
The ire against the American military springs from his own soul. It’s infused throughout his agitprop videos.
Foley was so hard core that he was able to dance out of captivity in Libya. The Islamists intervened for him.
It’s not beyond reason that he arranged that kidnapping so as to kick some $$$ to his buddies — and to mount the international press stage. In sum: a personal publicity stunt.
It’s a plot device that’s been recycled within living memory by Hollywood.
“The Chase” (1994)
Excess Baggage” (1997)
Whether he was at true risk (Libya) seems problematic — since he promptly went straight into the sandbox.
And this acorn didn’t fall far from momma’s lap.
Foley was living the script his mother handed him at the cradle.
&&&&
Such American/ Canadian/ Western activism is high on Putin’s phobia stack.
%%%
Our anarchist President… the Community Dis-organizer in Chief… he hatches pod-agitators like they’re German cockroaches.
###
At least Foley got his 15 seconds of fame.
@@@
If this is what ISIS does to its most sympathetic media connections, expect very tight editing from here on out.
!
With apologies to commenter Roman above, It’s time to go Roman on these barbarians. ISIS delendus est. Deal with them them just as the Romans destroyed Carthage.
Daisy cutters all around anyone?
I’ll bet this @sshat Foley thought he was immune to what was going on around him as he was in sympathy with the islamists. Ha! I guess he found out as the knife bit into his throat that he was, after all, still an Infidel. Too bad, so sad. Not! Foley chose the anti-civilization side in this war. He chose poorly.
My give-a-shit meter’s on the fritz. Again.
RickZ,
And maybe Foley was just doing his job; I don’t know Foley’s work. Your “give a shit” meter, while valid for you, is not the issue here. Under any circumstances, and like Daniel Pearl’s execution, Foley’s execution is a signal as to the perversity of our enemy if we choose to heed it.
It’s also a signal that the Leftist alliance is allied with Islamic Jihad, whether people like it or not.
T,
I have full knowledge of the perversity of our enemy. But there are too many in the West who view the US, and the West in general, as the oppressors in this centuries-long struggle (like our President). Proggie thinking not only gets such believers killed, but it gets you and me killed, too.
Foley sought out these terrorists, identified with them. Crying over him is like crying over tourists who visit Iran or North Korea and end up in jail on trumped up charges. Contrary to lefty thinking, the rest of the world does not have Miranda nor our Bill of Rights. Whatever happened to common f-cking sense? One answer is that it’s being ‘educated’ out of the population.
Ymarsaker,
“It’s also a signal that the Leftist alliance is allied with Islamic Jihad . . . .”
Agreed. They both have a common enemy: Western Civilization and Culture.
Tangentially related is this post from today over at Maverick Philosopher:
The link:
http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/
Let the ME sort out their own problems,especially ones created by themselves. Keep America out!
No more dead American soldiers and bloated deficits for Israel and Saudi Arabia. No more begging boys!
Man Up!
I had to watch their public statement three times in order to be absolutely certain that I was hearing their words correctly.
Beheaded Foley’s parents did indeed beg for mercy for his CAPTORS before they asked for mercy for his fellow CAPTIVES.
He knew without a trace of hope that he was, in fact, going to be beheaded after his statement. He could have screamed F*** ISLAM, and would probably have died quicker…..
He chose instead to humiliate and blame his brother and his country.
The video of Foley’s beheading does indeed illustrate the primitive barbarism of radical islamists, and also (laughably) points up how their love of modern technology manages to co-exist joyfully with their commitment to ancient tribal values….but it does NOT, sadly, immortalize the last few moments of a hero’s life.
From Instapundit posted this morning (8/21) at 10:00AM: