Think about what you are doing, think about the lives you destroy, including those of your own family. I call on my brother John, who is a member of the US Air Force. My message to my beloved parents, save me some dignity, and don’t accept some meagre compensation, for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with their recent aerial campaign in Iraq. For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality. I call on my friends, family, and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government.
Jame foley full#
The full transcript of what Foley says in the video, via Brown Moses: To read more columns like this, go to the opinion front page or follow us on twitter or Facebook.Prior to his execution, Foley reads a statement in which he calls the U.S. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. Robbins, author of The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero, is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. The only question is, what message the United States will send back. Seeing Jim Foley's headless body resting on featureless sands, his bloody, shaved head placed near his folded hands, tells us all we need to know.
In part it was because Foley was an American, and also because he was a journalist.īut rather than censoring reports on this gruesome act, Americans should understand it as a direct expression of ISIS and its creed. There have been countless beheadings in Iraq and Syria in recent months and years, but this was the first one that became such a dominant news story. Obama's next moves.įoley's dramatic death was a media breakthrough for ISIS. In a final humiliation they forced him to read a statement addressed to his "friends, family, and loved ones" to "rise up against real killers, the US government," and concluding "all in all I wish I wasn't American." The video also briefly shows captive American freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, with a warning that his fate depends on Mr. A movement that proudly posts videos of its followers slaughtering unarmed Iraqis lying in shallow ditches has nothing to hide except of course the identity of Foley's cowardly executioner.īut ISIS had no use for Foley as a reporter, only as a U.S. Last year, the total was 77 killed globally, with 46 dying in the arc of countries from Pakistan to Mali.įoley no doubt would have been happy to get the inside story on ISIS, as any journalist would. In 2002, 25 journalists were killed worldwide, 4 of them in the Middle East. Pearl was working under the old rules, understanding the risks but hoping the fact that he was a member of the press would keep him alive. The event that most prominently marked this deadly transition was the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. Journalists in war zones are now simply hostages waiting to be taken. They know their messages will get out whether a reporter is on hand or not. They publish webzines and produce sophisticated videos. They have Facebook pages and Twitter feeds. However, the internet-age democratization of media has made reporters less important to terror groups. The terrorists of old would not have executed James Foley, it would have been bad for business. Journalists, nurtured in the culture of objectivity, went along with the game in the interests of the scoop. And reporters were a critical part of the terror calculus in order to entice coverage, bad guys gave the press dramatic story lines and compelling visuals. Terrorists have long combined violence with theater, to inspire the fear their name implies. Then follows the bloody deed itself, forceful, grotesque, brutal. He and his black-clad, masked executioner read statements in English, directed to an American audience. Foley is mockingly in orange, after the jumpsuits issued to terrorist detainees, his head shaved, appearing drawn and stoic. His killing this week took place on a stark stage barren, featureless sands under a brilliant sky. But the grim scene is something all Americans should see.įoley disappeared in November 2012 while covering the war in Syria for Agence France–Presse.
The images of American photojournalist James Foley's murder of are so shocking that YouTube removed the video and Twitter is scrubbing the photos.
0 kommentar(er)
