A Message to America from ISIS featuring James Foley’s Beheading

James Foley was an American journalist who was working for GlobalPost as a freelance journalist. He was taken into custody by ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) about two years back.

His beheading was shown in a video titled “A Message to America” recently, according to a transcript released by SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that follows jihadist groups,(via NYTimes).  

And it was a clear warning from the radical fringe group to the United States of America to desist from interfering in the personal affairs of the region.

According to GlobalPost, “Video of Foley purporting to show his beheading was uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday afternoon and later removed. The FBI is evaluating the video’s contents.”

40-year-old Foley was kidnapped from Syria while he was on duty there in the capacity of a journalist. The video which was posted on al-Furqan Media Foundation YouTube account is not very high quality and so it is not clear if it really is Foley or someone else.

Later on the administrators of YouTube account took the video off the realm that is cyberspace.The video had the title A Message to America and it showed a man that was supposedly Foley kneeling in the middle of the desert in an orange suit.

The clothes were probably a reference to the dress code of the inmates of Gitmo Bay. A masked ISIS member is shown in the video standing besides Foley.

“The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” said a masked man in the video.

He spoke in a clipped English dialect regarding how this extreme action was being carried out in reaction to the bombing of the terrorist group by President Obama.

“I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers — the U.S. government — for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacent criminality,” Mr. Foley says in the video, which was uploaded to the online account of the al-Furqan Media Foundation, according to SITE, an organization that follows jihadist groups.

Foley delivers the message before his execution that all that is happening to him is due to the meddlesome activities of the United States in the Middle East.

Foley held the American government responsible for his death. Earlier, his family had urged the militants to let the hostages including Foley go since it was not their fault but the American elitist government’s which was indiscriminately bombing the people of Iraq and Syria.

But the execution took place nevertheless and as the ISIS member standing besides Foley took out a knife the grisly result was an emetic scene to watch indeed.

“We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIL,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement. “The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity.”

“If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” she said.

Foley had been kidnapped previously in Libya. He was among many journalists who disappeared without a trace. His purported death comes as a shock and is a tragedy since he himself was just a media man and had nothing to do with the carpet bombing of ISIS hideouts.

Foley’s family also posted a statement on Facebook account on late Tuesday evening, which they asked GlobalPost to share. As of Tuesday, 11 p.m. local time, “the family had no confirmation of Jim’s death from the US government, and they acknowledged there is a small chance the video /4/still prove to be fake,” states GlobalPost.

Foley’s mom, Diane Foley, posted following statement on Facebook:

“We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.

We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.

We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. Please respect our privacy in the days ahead as we mourn and cherish Jim.”

Earlier, Philip Balboni, GlobalPost CEO and co-founder, made the following statement:

“On behalf of John and Diane Foley, and also GlobalPost, we deeply appreciate all of the messages of sympathy and support that have poured in since the news of Jim’s possible execution first broke. We have been informed that the FBI is in the process of evaluating the video posted by the Islamic State to determine if it is authentic. … We ask for your prayers for Jim and his family.”

Our condolences go out to his family and friends, if he Foley was killed. The loss of life of even one man leaves the entire humanity a poorer and less humane place.

Source: NYTimes