ISIS beheads American journalist, posts video on YouTube

ISIS beheads American journalist, posts video on YouTubeAnd threatens to do it to another unless Obama stops Iraq air strikes.

ISIS beheads American journalist, posts video on YouTube





The video showing the beheading of freelance photojournalist James Foley has been the talk of the Internet and of the media since last night. We’re not going to show the one that includes the beheading - there’s nothing gained by broadcasting ISIS’s brutality to that degree - but it’s important that we all have a sober view of the dynamics at play here.

This is an old story repeating itself yet again. The word “terrorist” has almost become a cliche in the 13 years since 9/11 and the start of the War on Terror, which the American public got tired of maybe five years after it started. But the word exists to describe the likes of ISIS, who are only too happy to kill in as brutal a manner as serves their purpose, and who always claim to do so in the service of Allah.

They do so visibly, accompanied by demands and further threats, and dare Western leaders to stand up to them by making it clear that, if they do, the blood of future victims will be on their hands. Apparently another victim, a freelancer working with Time Magazine, is the likely next victim:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-19/islamic-extremist-video-shows-beheading-of-american.html

  The video begins with a clip of Obama announcing U.S. military action in Iraq. Then it shows an unidentified masked man in a desert setting dressed in black wielding a knife in one hand beside the man identified as Foley, who is on his knees clad in an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by detainees held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

  In clear, American-accented English, the man identified as Foley addresses his brother John, who he says is in the U.S. Air Force.

  “When your people dropped that bomb on those people, they signed my death certificate,” the man says.

  The graphic video shows the man in black pulling the American’s head back and slicing his neck, then cuts away to the man’s severed head lying on his decapitated corpse. A separate social media post shows pictures of what appears to be the same man kneeling and of his decapitated head and body.

  At the end of the video, a second American, also clad in orange, is shown alongside the terrorist.

  “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the militant says in a British accent.

While we have decided not to show the video inclusive of the beheading, here is an edited version that gives you the feel of what happens:



There are only two lessons to take from this: 1. Radical Islam is the single cause of all the violence and turbulence in the Middle East and the surrounding region. All of it. It is the reason for the hatred of Israel. It is the reason people in nations like Syria, Iraq and Iran can never really have lasting peace or freedom. A religion that is willing to murder anyone it can get its hands on - ostensibly because they won’t convert but really just to scare the hell out of everyone while grabbing power for itself - can neither be reasoned with nor accommodated in any way. No attempt to blame the use of American power or the existence of Israel deals in truth or reality. 2. Barack Obama’s weakness and abdication of America’s global leadership role created the opportunity for the likes of ISIS to overrun Iraq and commit this type of brutal murder. Those of you who indulge “non-interventionist” fantasies - whether you are leftists who despise American power or libertarians who dream of curtailing the pursuit of “empire” that you imagine - are delusional fools.

This type of evil will always arise because it is part of the depraved nature of man. Only a force strong enough to stop it, and willing to do so, can prevent monsters like this from doing what they want to do.

I blame the majority of the American people, who understood this after 9/11, but soon lost interest in the mission and eventually became so easily deluded that they were willing to not only elect a poseur like Obama, but to also buy into the notion that America could withdraw from the world without bringing about disaster for both America and the world.

I wonder how long the effects of this reality check will last, before a majority of Americans start indulging the same delusion once again.