Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Reporter James Foley Beheaded on Video by Islamist Militants

James Foley in Aleppo, Syria. Photo: 2012

James Foley

The Islamic State militant group has released a video online purporting to show the beheading of US journalist James Foley, missing since 2012.
The militants said the killing was revenge for US air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.
Foley's mother Diane said on Facebook she was proud of her son: "He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people." The White House said if the video was genuine, the US would be "appalled".
Foley has reported extensively across the Middle East, working for America's Global Post and other media outlets including the French news agency AFP.

In the video titled A Message to America, a man who appears to be James Foley is dressed in orange kneeling in desert-like terrain beside an armed man dressed in black.The militant, who speaks with a British accent and identifies himself as an IS member, says the journalist's death is the direct result of US bombing of IS targets in Iraq.

In a statement, the Global Post asked for "prayers for Jim and his family", adding that it was waiting for the video to be verified. James Foley has been missing since he was seized in Syria in 2012


James Foley (left) film near the Libyan town of Sirte. Photo: 2011 
James Foley has worked for a number of media outlets, travelling across the Middle East

A ribbon is tied to a tree outside the home of James Foley in Rochester, New Hampshire. Photo: 19 August 2014 
A ribbon is tied to a tree outside James Foley's house in Rochester, New Hampshire

In a 2012 interview,  Foley described his motivation for covering conflicts.
"I'm drawn to the drama of the conflict and trying to expose untold stories," he said.
"There's extreme violence, but there's a will to find who these people really are... And I think that's what's really inspiring about it". Foley was also briefly detained in Libya in 2011.
US officials confirmed that they had seen the video and were trying to establish its authenticity.

President Obama had also been informed. White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said: "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."
The footage claimed to have been released by the IS also shows another prisoner identified by the militants as an American reporter.
Mrs Foley, in her Facebook post, urged the militants to free any other hostages.

"Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world," she wrote. The militant group has been accused of massacring hundreds of people in areas under their control in Iraq and also in eastern Syria.
The violence has displaced an estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq alone.
Pursuing an extreme form of Sunni Islam, IS has persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shia Muslims, whom it regards as heretics.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:20:00 AM

    beheaded? Where is the video showing such swine like animal behaviour by the muslim infidels? Every site is laying claim but offering no proof, the people need to see just how ignorant and animalistic the muslim swine really are.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most news agencies have chosen not to show the entire video because it was too horribly graphic for public display and also out of consideration for Mr Foley's family.

    After being examined by the correct authorities the video was declared authentic.

    Thank you for your comment

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you and the news agencies that it was too graphic for public display and out of consideration for Mr. Foley' family .

    Not every site is laying claim to have seen the video .

    As you stated ...PIC ... the correct authorities declared it authentic .
    Nuff said .

    Good post PIC
    Luv

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:49:00 PM

    Just to be clear to those who extrapolate from this horror to foolish overgeneralized levels ... horror crosses all faiths at one time or another. As a point in fact: after overrunning a Bosnian town on 11th July 1995, Bosnian Serb – ostensibly Christian – forces, cold-bloodedly massacred 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Horror does indeed cross all faiths, nationalities and boundaries. History has shown us this time and again. One hopes that someday, in a more enlightened world, we will learn to co-exist peacefully.

    Thank you for your comment

    ReplyDelete

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