The mother of executed photo-journalist James Wright Foley, 40, has issued a statement after a video surfaced Tuesday showing his horrific beheading by ISIS terrorists as revenge for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.
In a statement posted on the Free James Foley Facebook page, Diane Foley writes that she and husband John ‘have never been prouder of our son Jim’.
Mrs Foley writes that her son spent his life fighting to expose the suffering of the Syrian people, while pleading with his captors to spare the lives of remaining captive Steven Joel Sotloff, who also appears in the video as the group’s next target.
‘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.’
Foley, has been missing since November 2012, after being taken hostage at gunpoint while reporting from Taftanaz, in northern Syria, for the agency GlobalPost.
ISIS posted the extremely graphic video shot at an unknown location, titled ‘A Message to America’ to social media as proof of their barbaric actions.
In a chilling warning at the end of grisly film, the executioner, who speaks with what sounds like a British accent, parades another American journalist, Steven Joel Sotloff, who went missing in August 2013, saying: ‘The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the video as he was flying back to the White House on Air Force One From his Martha’s Vineyard vacation. White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says the administration has seen the video.
She says that if it’s deemed genuine by the intelligence community, the US would be ‘appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist.’
Two U.S. officials have since confirmed anonymously that the man in the video is indeed Foley. One of the officials says President Obama will comment on the video on Wednesday.
His family issued a statement through their Free James Foley organization, which has been working to free the journalist.
‘We know that many of you are looking for confirmation or answers. Please be patient until we all have more information, and keep the Foleys in your thoughts and prayers.’
A family friend named Holly Rene spoke to the New York Post and said the Foleys are ‘falling apart with grief.’
‘I was just so hopeful Jimmy had, if they weren’t going to get any good news, that he would have been dead for a long time now and there was no suffering involved. And to think he went through two years just to have this ending, it’s beyond belief.
‘These savages have got to be stopped. It’s coming West.’
New Hampshire Rep Kelly Ayotte also issued a statement about Foley, who hails from the state: ‘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.’
As the disturbing video infolds, Foley, dressed in orange and on his knees, is unflinching to the end as he addresses the camera before his death.
It appears the journalist has been coerced into blaming the United States by his brutal captors. His voice strong, but struggling at times to swallow as he battles against fear, he brands the US government his real killers as a man in black robes armed with a gun stands over him.
Foley, who has been missing for almost two years, also leaves a haunting message for his brother, John, who is thought to be in the US Air Force.
Referring to US airstrikes launched nearly two weeks ago in Iraq, Foley says: ‘I died that day, John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on these people. They signed my death certificate’
As the appalling video unfolds, Foley blames the ‘complacency and criminality’ of the United States for his impending death.
In his final, awful message to the world, no doubt prepared for him by his captors, Foley pleads for more time and to have seen his family again.
In a final insult from his vengeful executioners, Foley is made to deny his birthright as a citizen of the United States.
‘I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and see my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American,’ says Foley before his tragic death.
The reporter then stops speaking and his executioner steps forward. The masked, armed and black robe-clad man speaks in English in what is thought to be a British accent.
Members of the UK’s Associated Press pegged the accent to the South East of England and London, while others have claimed the accent resembles one from North Africa.
‘This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen of your country. As a government you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State,’ begins the executioner.
‘You have plotted against us and gone far out of your way to find reasons to interfere in our affairs. Today, your military airforce is attacking us daily in Iraq.
‘So effectively, any aggression toward the Islamic State is aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life who have accepted the Islamic Caliphate as their leadership.
‘So any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic Caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.’
Then in another chilling warning, the executioner holds another man, on his knees with his hands tied behind his back, by the scruff of the neck. A caption claims it is Steven Joel Soltoff.
The executioner says: ‘The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.’
GlobalPost’s co-founder, Charles Sennott told ABC News that there is ‘no reliable proof that this execution is authentic.
‘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.’
The gruesome video clip opens with President Obama announcing the commencement of American air strikes on Iraq against ISIS.
‘Today I authorized two operations in Iraq: targeted airstrikes to protect our American personnel, and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water, and facing almost certain death,’ says Obama in a statement dated, August 7.
ISIS, which has claimed control of most of northern Iraq and parts of Syria is threatening to kill Time journalist Steven Joel Sotloff next unless President Obama ceases attacks on the terror group.
The Mailonline
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