James Foley

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chaos
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James Foley

#1 Post by chaos » Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:30 pm

The White House is in the process of authenticating the video and verifying that the man beheaded was Foley.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/video-app ... d=25043593

Video Appears to Show Beheading of Journalist James Foley, Who Went Missing in Syria
Aug 19, 2014, 5:55 PM ET
By LEE FERRAN and RYM MOMTAZ

Image
In this Nov. 2012, file photo, posted on the website freejamesfoley.org, shows missing journalist James Foley while covering the civil war in Aleppo, Syria. Nicole Tung/AP Photo

A disturbing video posted online appears to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped while covering the Syrian conflict in 2012.

In the video a man who appears to be Foley, dressed in orange, kneels beside an armed man clad in black. Foley delivers a statement condemning U.S. action in Iraq and says that the U.S. government is his “real killers.”

“For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality,” Foley says in halting speech. “I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom of seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.”

US Journalist James Foley Captured in Syria

Image
PHOTO: A screengrab from a video posted online appears to show American journalist James Foley shortly before he is killed by a masked captor.

Seconds later, the figure dressed in black brandishes a knife and identifies himself as with the Islamic State, the name the brutal terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took on after its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared himself the leader of all Muslims.

“Today your military air force has attacked us daily… Your strikes have caused casualties amongst Muslims,” the figure in black says. He then addresses President Obama directly, saying “any attempt… to deny the Muslims their right to live in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.”

Foley is then killed. The video continues, showing American Steven Sotloff, who has written for national publications like Time, also dressed in orange and on his knees.

“The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the figure in black says.

Image
PHOTO: American Steven Sotloff is threatened but left alive in a gruesome video posted online that earlier appears to show the murder of American journalist James Foley.

A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the U.S. 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," spokesperson Caitlin Hayden wrote in a statement to reporters.

The U.S. government offers a $10 million reward for information leading to ISIS leader al-Baghdadi’s capture.

Foley was on assignment in Syria for the news outlet GlobalPost. The news organization's co-founder Charles Sennott said today there is "no reliable proof that this execution is authentic" and that they're working to gather information.

"If the video is verified, it is just unfathomable darkness to think that a life as bright as Jim Foley's ended that way," Sennott said. "He was an experienced and fearless journalist who believed deeply in reporting from the frontlines."

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., had worked with Foley's family and the State Department in their efforts to get Foley back.

"If confirmed, this barbarous and heinous act shocks the conscience and underscores the truly evil nature of the terrorists we confront, who must be defeated," Ayotte said in a statement.

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chaos
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Re: James Foley

#2 Post by chaos » Tue Aug 19, 2014 4:33 pm

Global Post journalist James Foley talks about being captured in Libya

The Boston Globe
Uploaded on May 27, 2011

(The Boston Globe) An interview with journalist James Foley, back from Libya (Video by Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff, produced by Lane Turner/Globe Staff)

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Re: James Foley

#3 Post by chaos » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:55 pm

A thought-provoking read:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-E ... s?cmpid=TW

After Foley murder, an effort to stamp out jihadi Twitter accounts

The jihad group IS videotaped its murder of American journalist James Foley as a propaganda exercise, fueling a debate over when and how often such groups should be censored on social media sites.

By Elizabeth Dickinson, Correspondent AUGUST 20, 2014

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SR
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Re: James Foley

#4 Post by SR » Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:19 am

I remember the videotaped be headings a few years ago. I recall whomever I was in contact with at the time actively sought out the videos to watch.

The thought of watching a video like this scares me to the bone. What is the allure?

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chaos
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Re: James Foley

#5 Post by chaos » Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:11 am

I wouldn't want to see it either.

I thought these were interesting points from the article:
What can and should be done about extremist group accounts? Left unchecked, their feeds spread a violent message and rally support. But closing down all the feeds is a nearly impossible, even futile chore. And if successful it would also deprive those who seek to track and counter such groups of important data points.

Foley’s murder is an extreme example. But other IS releases have helped analysts track key militant operations, analyze troop movements, and tally foreign recruits.

“There’s always this tension,” says Matthew Levitt, former deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the US Treasury Department. “You don’t want to shut them down, because they offer a treasure trove of information … but you also want to start sending a message [to extremists] that we know what you’re doing.”
...the United Kingdom's Metropolitan Police said today that "viewing, downloading or disseminating" the Foley murder video, which was carried out by a man with a British accent, may be treated as a terrorism offense.

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Pandemonium
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Re: James Foley

#6 Post by Pandemonium » Sun Aug 24, 2014 10:52 am

SR wrote:I remember the videotaped be headings a few years ago. I recall whomever I was in contact with at the time actively sought out the videos to watch.

The thought of watching a video like this scares me to the bone. What is the allure?
There is no allure for normal people. It's snuff film/video in it's worst incarnation, used as a marketing tool to bring in more mental defectives to the Jihad cause. More tellingly, the ease of finding and viewing such atrocities exposes the continuing trend for the general public's (especially younger people) continued desensitization to such base acts. One on hand, it exposes how concurrently stupid and smart ISIS is - clearly such "propaganda" has and will continue to polarize and repulse the majority to demand they are stamped out by any means possible, but also attracts a small minority of warped would-be extremists who want to become involved in the carnage for whatever reasons, many who just want an excuse to kill people.

On the other hand, it's really not much different at it's core than our own "Join The Army/Navy/Air Force" tv commercials sanitized to make it look cool that you'll get a free education, visit exotic locals, operate cool military hardware and of course, serving your country but really boils down to getting sent to some sandpit hellhole futilely fighting for and against people still stuck in the dark ages, (most of whom hate us) for interests that rarely are more altruistic than securing their natural resources for ourselves.

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Re: James Foley

#7 Post by Romeo » Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:50 am


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SR
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Re: James Foley

#8 Post by SR » Mon Aug 25, 2014 11:12 am

Romeo wrote:allegedly this is the guy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 87216.html
Yes, I saw that they felt close yesterday. If true, intel is both startling and amazing

Has anyone here watched the video?

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Juana
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Re: James Foley

#9 Post by Juana » Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:03 pm

SR wrote:
Romeo wrote:allegedly this is the guy

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 87216.html
Yes, I saw that they felt close yesterday. If true, intel is both startling and amazing

Has anyone here watched the video?
No and I will not watch it.

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Re: James Foley

#10 Post by Bandit72 » Wed Aug 27, 2014 12:32 am

Here's another angle on the story.
Foley murder video 'may have been staged'
Analysts believe the British jihadi in the video may not have been James Foley's killer, although it is accepted that the journalist was murdered
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... taged.html

And an interesting read.

http://www.5pillarz.com/2014/08/22/did- ... mes-foley/

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Pandemonium
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Re: James Foley

#11 Post by Pandemonium » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:28 pm

Looks like the other journalist Steven Sotloff was decapitated by ISIS. I can't help but wonder if they are REALLY stupid thinking this will sway public opinion in their favor or if this is some clever attempt to draw the US back into a full tilt boots-on-the-ground protracted war in Iraq and eventually Syria. If they pull the same stunt with the female US aid worker they have captive, I think that will send the American public right over the edge demanding we nuke the whole fucking region.

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Re: James Foley

#12 Post by tubro » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:30 pm

Pandemonium wrote:Looks like the other journalist Steven Sotloff was decapitated by ISIS. I can't help but wonder if they are REALLY stupid thinking this will sway public opinion in their favor or if this is some clever attempt to draw the US back into a full tilt boots-on-the-ground protracted war in Iraq and eventually Syria. If they pull the same stunt with the female US aid worker they have captive, I think that will send the American public right over the edge demanding we nuke the whole fucking region.
yup, they are goading the US back into the region. these are vile people committing vile crimes. the fact that all the networks including msnbc and in some ways led by cnn, are telling americans that these beheadings should cause each and every citizen from sea to shining sea to fear for his life and to demand that his government commence immediate acts of war is the bigger crime.

that said, ISIS is winning the 'kooks of the decade award' and it's only 2014.

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Re: James Foley

#13 Post by Larry B. » Tue Sep 02, 2014 8:19 pm

I'm only commenting now because I've just found out about these 2 videos.

I have seen my good share of executions from all over the world and in different qualities and contexts... and these videos look ridiculously staged. Executions (and especially "terrorist" executions) are nothing like this:

- The hostages wouldn't read a 2 minute speech with such calm, all those vocal inflections, perfect enunciation, and corny messages... when they know by the time they're finished they will have ONE MINUTE TO LIVE. It doesn't work that way.
- Did you see the equipment there? Wireless microphones. Never happened before, at least.
- The dialogues are text-book propaganda to make people be more inclined to support further military action by that US.
- The knife doesn't look as a real knife would actually look.
- When a knife starts thrusting on your neck, it doesn't take more than one "slash" to cut the skin and draw blood. In both videos, the knife makes more than 9 movements over the victims' neck and there's never blood in sight.
- In one of the videos, it takes the knife 7 movements before the person even reacted (by trying to lift one of his legs from the ground.) Believe me, after the first cut there's no way you'd stay still during the following 6.
- For the final shots (where they show a body with the victim's head on top), the amount of blood over the person's body is FAR less than what it should've been.

Part of me feels awful for saying this, but to me those videos look absolutely ridiculous. I had no idea this was big news on the media. If there're political decisions to be made based on these videos, we're looking at another big media circus to call support for war.

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Re: James Foley

#14 Post by Xizen47 » Wed Sep 03, 2014 10:39 am

Larry B. wrote:I'm only commenting now because I've just found out about these 2 videos.

I have seen my good share of executions from all over the world and in different qualities and contexts... and these videos look ridiculously staged. Executions (and especially "terrorist" executions) are nothing like this:

- The hostages wouldn't read a 2 minute speech with such calm, all those vocal inflections, perfect enunciation, and corny messages... when they know by the time they're finished they will have ONE MINUTE TO LIVE. It doesn't work that way.
- Did you see the equipment there? Wireless microphones. Never happened before, at least.
- The dialogues are text-book propaganda to make people be more inclined to support further military action by that US.
- The knife doesn't look as a real knife would actually look.
- When a knife starts thrusting on your neck, it doesn't take more than one "slash" to cut the skin and draw blood. In both videos, the knife makes more than 9 movements over the victims' neck and there's never blood in sight.
- In one of the videos, it takes the knife 7 movements before the person even reacted (by trying to lift one of his legs from the ground.) Believe me, after the first cut there's no way you'd stay still during the following 6.
- For the final shots (where they show a body with the victim's head on top), the amount of blood over the person's body is FAR less than what it should've been.

Part of me feels awful for saying this, but to me those videos look absolutely ridiculous. I had no idea this was big news on the media. If there're political decisions to be made based on these videos, we're looking at another big media circus to call support for war.
I agree, I watched the Foley video and all I could think was this is staged

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Re: James Foley

#15 Post by Artemis » Wed Sep 03, 2014 1:48 pm


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Re: James Foley

#16 Post by SR » Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:03 pm

So for those who've concluded it's staged.....either where is he or was he taped while drugged....taped on a different day.....killed before then beheading?

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Re: James Foley

#17 Post by Larry B. » Wed Sep 03, 2014 3:08 pm

SR wrote:So for those who've concluded it's staged.....either where is he or was he taped while drugged....taped on a different day.....killed before then beheading?
I don't think they could've been drugged, as they spoke without a trace of anything being wrong, very clearly and very 'professionally.' If they are in fact dead, they were killed in different circumstances, and that would imply they were double-crossed (as they are clearly 'in' by reading those speeches and pretending to be beheaded.)

Most beheading executioners often have problems placing the head on the victim's back. In this case, the head is perfectly placed over a body that isn't 20% as bloody as it should be.

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Re: James Foley

#18 Post by MYXYLPLYX » Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:31 pm

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1915845
A masked jihadist may not have actually beheaded American journalist James Foley in the barbaric video released by Islamic terrorists last week, a forensics expert said.

Though there was no doubt that Foley was beheaded, it was possible the jihadists killed Foley off camera and staged the video to make it look like an execution, an expert told the Times of London.

"I think it has been staged," the visual forensics expert, who was not identified, told The Times after scrutinizing the four-minute, 40-second film.

"My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped."

:noclue:

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Re: James Foley

#19 Post by Bandit72 » Wed Sep 03, 2014 11:26 pm

Yeh I agree, it does seem staged. Mics, scripts, post production. Compared to Al-Zarqawi, this all seems a bit Hollywood.

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Re: James Foley

#20 Post by Essence_Smith » Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:58 am

Ok so let me get this straight... and I'll preface this by saying that I believe IF this did happen, beheading an american citizen for propaganda is a horrible thing...however imo, while government can certainly say they have a right to protect it's citizens from "threats" like this, the killing of a few individuals does not amount to the same thing as a threat to national interests. And I honestly don't feel they are a serious threat to American interests...this whole thing is being greatly exaggerated and frankly it feels just like GW all over again hearing the VP in the press...how the hell are a bunch of extremists in Iraq a threat to my way of life in the U.S.??? If they have any power at all it's the ability to scare, threaten and intimidate and I some threats are only as big as you make them in your own head...long term I think it's a bad idea even going back into the region for any significant time. This reactionary shit is bananas to me...get some more intel and then infiltrate their organization the same way some of them have come here and blended into our society. Not as impressive as bombing the shit out of people but a smarter way to deal imo

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Re: James Foley

#21 Post by Larry B. » Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:12 am

I don't generally like this guy, but once you know these executions are fake you realize he does make some very good points.


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Re: James Foley

#22 Post by Pandemonium » Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:02 pm

MYXYLPLYX wrote:http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1915845
A masked jihadist may not have actually beheaded American journalist James Foley in the barbaric video released by Islamic terrorists last week, a forensics expert said.

Though there was no doubt that Foley was beheaded, it was possible the jihadists killed Foley off camera and staged the video to make it look like an execution, an expert told the Times of London.

"I think it has been staged," the visual forensics expert, who was not identified, told The Times after scrutinizing the four-minute, 40-second film.

"My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped."

:noclue:
I believe this was how Daniel Pearl was murdered - they stabbed him in the heart off-camera and after he was dead, filmed the decapitation. That also explained why there was so little blood.

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Re: James Foley

#23 Post by Pandemonium » Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:32 pm

Essence_Smith wrote:Ok so let me get this straight... and I'll preface this by saying that I believe IF this did happen, beheading an american citizen for propaganda is a horrible thing...however imo, while government can certainly say they have a right to protect it's citizens from "threats" like this, the killing of a few individuals does not amount to the same thing as a threat to national interests. And I honestly don't feel they are a serious threat to American interests...this whole thing is being greatly exaggerated and frankly it feels just like GW all over again hearing the VP in the press...how the hell are a bunch of extremists in Iraq a threat to my way of life in the U.S.??? If they have any power at all it's the ability to scare, threaten and intimidate and I some threats are only as big as you make them in your own head...long term I think it's a bad idea even going back into the region for any significant time. This reactionary shit is bananas to me...get some more intel and then infiltrate their organization the same way some of them have come here and blended into our society. Not as impressive as bombing the shit out of people but a smarter way to deal imo
The real concern isn't what ISIS is now, it's what ISIS can likely become once they get a real foothold if left unchecked and actually create their own Islamic Fascist state. It's very possible in as little as 5 years time that these kooks under the guise of a "real" country would start developing and acquiring chemical and nuclear weapons and spread like cancer through the whole Middle East. If you think a country like North Korea is a problem, they would be like Switzerland compared to ISIStan. The whole region has become so unstable and ungovernable since the "Arab Spring" that basically, any bully can waltz in and do as they please if left unchecked. Remember, Clinton and initially Bush Jr basically ignored Al-Qaeda even after they sponsored the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 among other terrorist attacks leading up to 9/11.

I agree that we can't keep being the Big Dog and going in and cleaning house in various fucked up Middle Eastern countries every time some new clutch of stone age fanatics starts rampaging throughout. What we have been seeing since 2002 is the same thing that happened to Russia - which is a war of attrition that eventually bankrupted and broke up the Soviet Union. Thing is, these Islamic freaks *never* settle for being isolationists, they will always want to expand and the big, bad US and UK are always their ultimate targets. If I was a policy-maker involved in a Western response, I'd work to pitch ISIS against Al-Qaeda as they have severed ties with each other and left them wear each other down.


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Re: James Foley

#25 Post by Pandemonium » Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:43 pm


I think you'll see any lingering hesitancy in the UK to wipe these troglodytes out evaporate quickly now.

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