Islamic State executioner who beheaded US journalist IS British, government believes as Foreign Secretary says UK troops could be sent to Baghdad
I fear our panic stricken politicians are leading us into another bloody shambles in Iraq, says GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE
'Spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim they are innocents': Brave mother of beheaded American journalist calls on ISIS to cease killing as she pays tribute to her 'extraordinary son'
Twitter to consider removing gory photographs of dead people at request of family members but Google warns graphic images could have important news value
- 'Spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim they are innocents': Brave mother of beheaded American journalist calls on ISIS to cease killing as she pays tribute to her 'extraordinary son'
- Cameron must recall MPs over Iraq crisis says ex-head of Army: Lord Dannatt earlier warned that returning Jihadists could 'bring mayhem to our streets'
- I fear our panic stricken politicians are leading us into another bloody shambles in Iraq, says GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE
David Cameron this morning broke off his holiday to return to
Downing Street, following the brutal murder of an American journalist by
an Islamic State jihadist thought to be British. The Prime Minister
will hold meetings this afternoon over the 'shocking and depraved'
execution of photographer James Foley. The dramatic development came
after the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the Islamic State was
waging war on Britain and the West and the organisation had to be dealt
with 'on that basis'. He also said the jihadist filmed executing Mr
Foley 'appears to be British' and revealed the Government believed the
video was 'genuine'. Mr Hammond said the UK would oppose the Islamic
State 'with every breath in our body' and
Foreign Secretary Phillip
Hammond has vowed to 'oppose ISIS with every breath in our body' after a
shocking video emerged of a British jihadist brutally beheading a
kidnapped American journalist.
Graphic footage of the execution appeared in an video titled: 'A Message to the U.S.', in which an apparently coerced James Wright Foley, 40, describes America as his true killers for using airstrikes to assist Kurdish forces in recapturing the Mosul Dam from ISIS militants.
Responding to the video, Mr Hammond said ISIS was waging war on the West and must be dealt with, before confirming that Foley's executioner 'appeared to be British' and adding that the Government believed the footage to be genuine.
Calling ISIS an 'evil organisation', Hammond said he could send British troops to help train Iraqi government soldiers to help counter the growing threat the Islamist militants pose.
Prime Minister David Cameron has since broken off his holiday to return to Downing Street to oversee Britain's response to Foley's 'shocking and depraved' beheading.
![In a disturbing twist Nasser Muthana - the 20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video earlier in the year - appeared to attend a screening of the video in Syria before it was released. He invited another militant to join him, declaring there are 'bare ikhwa' [ISIS fighters] there to watch](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s8-ex1EGVJA2ufe1POq1sGSbz0XsuGnhKu3f5B7NDcya9sR-OzoHw1sp4Vce5gBDNfdASoI0z8JOPn5ERe9ZEoEXUTt_iMnGE_o_QlCXmn1Un_im0yM8Bv2EnbGuDYAF3dfD1NfrA9QIbwPACM8AfBm275COI8hepkHvahsg=s0-d)
James Foley knew his job carried risks but 'believed in what he was doing' covering the Syrian conflict, a friend said.
The 40-year-old New Englander had been kidnapped before while covering fighting in Libya, but had been eager to get back into action, film-maker Matthew VanDyke told BBC Radio 4's Today.
He said seeing news reports of his friend's death was 'a complete nightmare' and urged other reporters in Syria and Iraq to take care, saying 'if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody'.
Mr Van Dyke said: 'He was certainly aware of the dangers, he was very professional... He had been through a rough time in Libya when he was captured and even after that he came home a little bit and then he went right back to Libya to continue reporting on that conflict.'
Mr Van Dyke said his friend went into Syria knowing that his presence amid the conflict was as dangerous, if not more so, than it had been in Libya.
'[But] he had a love for what he did and he wanted to tell the story of the Syrian people. And nothing was going to stop him from doing that.'
After being captured in Libya, Foley was held by the government alongside a small group of other journalists, but was released and given a one-year suspended sentence on charges of illegally entering the country.
In an interview about that experience, Foley said he 'would love to go back', but recalled the horror of seeing a colleague killed in a firefight. He also spoke of a love of his profession.
'Journalism is journalism,' he said. 'If I had a choice to do Nashua [New Hampshire] zoning meetings or give up journalism, I'll do it. I love writing and reporting.'
In an interview the BBC in a 2012 interview that he was '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, has been missing since November 2012, after being taken hostage at gunpoint by militants from the group Jabhat al Nusra while reporting from Taftanaz, northern Syria, for the GlobalPost.
Jabhat al Nusra subsequently joined forces with ISIS - which did not exist in anything like its current form when Foley was taken - which explains how he ended up in their hands.
The sickening video was designed to send a clear signal to the U.S. to halt the airstrikes that have destroyed a significant amount of ISIS' military equipment in and around the Mosul Dam, and allowed Kurdish Peshmerga to reclaim the strategically important complex.
This morning U.S. jets were seen in the air above the dam as the Kurdish troops who now control it were drawn into fighting with ISIS fighters who remain in the area, hoping to retake control.
At the end of the disturbing video, the masked ISIS operative issues a threat to kill another American journalist held captive if President Obama continues to order attacks against the group invading Iraq.
Freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff is paraded in front of the camera, and held by the collar of his shirt as the operatives says: 'The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision'.
Sotloff has been missing since August 2013, when he was kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria.
He sent out his last tweet on August 3, talking about his hometown basketball team the Miami Heat.
According to his account, he was living in Benghazi, Libya at the time.
ABC News foreign editor Jon Williams tweeted today that Sotloff's family were previously advised not to go public with news of his disappearance.
But a family friend wrote about Sotloff last December, saying he went missing August 4 and to pray for his return.
Sotloff, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, had been published in TIME, World Affairs, National Interest and the Christian Science Monitor.
The last story he filed was on November 26, 2012 titled 'Libya's New Crisis'
'Steve Sotloff lived in Yemen for years, spoke good Arabic, deeply loved the Islamic world..for this he is threatened with beheading,' friend Anne Marloe tweeted on Tuesday, following the video's release.
In the video, Sotloff did not speak, and appeared with a shaved head and face.
could send British troops to
Baghdad to train Iraqi forces to fight the 'evil organisation'.
'We will oppose ISIS with every breath in our body': Foreign Secretary says terrorist who beheaded US journalist IS British and troops could be sent to Baghdad, as Cameron breaks off holiday over crisis
- Philip Hammond said ISIS had declared war and UK had to act 'on that basis'
- Said jihadist video showing execution of US journalist James Foley 'genuine'
- Foreign Secretary revealed fighter in the online video 'appears to be British'
- He added it was 'an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation’
- Mr Hammond said ISIS is 'a poison, a cancer' which could spread
- Reveals British troops could be sent to Baghdad to train Iraqi forces
- But he insisted Parliament did not have to be recalled from summer recess
Graphic footage of the execution appeared in an video titled: 'A Message to the U.S.', in which an apparently coerced James Wright Foley, 40, describes America as his true killers for using airstrikes to assist Kurdish forces in recapturing the Mosul Dam from ISIS militants.
Responding to the video, Mr Hammond said ISIS was waging war on the West and must be dealt with, before confirming that Foley's executioner 'appeared to be British' and adding that the Government believed the footage to be genuine.
Calling ISIS an 'evil organisation', Hammond said he could send British troops to help train Iraqi government soldiers to help counter the growing threat the Islamist militants pose.
Prime Minister David Cameron has since broken off his holiday to return to Downing Street to oversee Britain's response to Foley's 'shocking and depraved' beheading.
Scroll down for videos
David Cameron arrived back in Downing Street
this afternoon after cutting short his holiday in Cornwall to hold a
meeting on the situation in Iraq and Syria with Foreign Secretary Philip
Hammond
Mr Cameron will hold emergency meetings with
senior intelligence officials as investigations are carried out into the
'shocking and depraved' murder of an American journalist by a jihadist
with an English accent
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the execution appeared to have been carried out by a Briton
A Number 10 spokeswoman said: 'If true, the brutal murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved.
'The
Prime Minister is returning to Downing Street this morning. He will
meet with the Foreign Secretary and senior officials from the Home
Office, Foreign Office and the agencies to discuss the situation in Iraq
and Syria and the threat posed by ISIL (Islamic State) terrorists.'
Mr
Hammond said the brutal Islamic State video of Mr Foley, who went
missing in Syria two years ago, was ‘an appalling example of the
brutality of this organisation’.
In
the video Mr Foley is seen kneeling in a desert-like environment at an
unknown location as an IS fighter stands by his side dressed in black
and with his face covered.
After
both Foley and the militant issue statements, the journalist is killed
in a barbaric beheading which takes seven-minutes due to the jihadist
using a small knife.
Mr Hammond said the video had not been verified but ‘all the hallmarks point to it being genuine’.
The Foreign
Secretary said his reaction to the clip was ‘horror, absolutely horror
at what appears to be a brutal execution’. He added: ‘On the face of it,
it appears to be a British person.’
The
Foreign Secretary said Britain needed to act against ISIS. ‘We need to
push it back, we need to counter the poisonous ideology that it
promotes.’
He
insisted this would not amount to ‘Western boots on the ground’, but
admitted training Iraqi troops was ‘certainly something that we would
consider’.
‘We could decide to put limited numbers of trainers into Baghdad for example.’
He
added if we are ‘effectively saying we are prepared to wage war on
ISIL’, Mr Hammond said: ‘It’s far too late for that debate.’
US journalist James Foley appears to have been beheaded by a Islamic State fighter with a British accent
'I GUESS I WISH I WASN'T AMERICAN': PHOTOJOURNALIST JAMES WRIGHT FOLEY'S FINAL WORDS TO CAMERA BEFORE HIS DEATH
'I
call on my friends family and loved ones to rise up against my real
killers, the US government. For what will happen to me is only a result
of their complacency and criminality.
'My message to my beloved parents: save me some dignity and don’t accept any (unclear, possibly says media) compensation for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with a recent aerial campaign in Iraq.
'I call on my brother John, who is/was (this part is also unclear) member of the US Air Force, think about what you are doing, think about lives you destroy including those of your own family.
'I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been.
'Think John, who did they really kill? Did they think about me, you our family when they made that decision?
'I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people – they signed my death certificate.
'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.'
'My message to my beloved parents: save me some dignity and don’t accept any (unclear, possibly says media) compensation for my death, from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with a recent aerial campaign in Iraq.
'I call on my brother John, who is/was (this part is also unclear) member of the US Air Force, think about what you are doing, think about lives you destroy including those of your own family.
'I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been.
'Think John, who did they really kill? Did they think about me, you our family when they made that decision?
'I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people – they signed my death certificate.
'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.'
Mr Hammond
said: ‘We are very clear that we are utterly opposed to the evil
ideology of this organisation – the barbaric cruelty that they have
displayed.
‘We are opposed to them with every breath in our body and we will continue to oppose this.
‘So any kind of threat they make, that if we oppose them they will come after us, frankly we’re long passed that point.
‘They are waging war on moderate Islamic opinion. They are waging war on the West and we have to deal with them on that basis.’
But
the Foreign Secretary insisted the Government had not done anything ‘so
far which has necessitated the recall of Parliament’. He also defended
Mr Cameron amid criticism that he has remained on holiday in Cornwall.
He said: ‘We’re all entitled to a break. We all operate a lot more effectively for having had one.
‘The Prime Minister is only a couple of hundred miles down the road in the UK.
‘He’s in constant contact with his ministers, with his officials, throughout the day. He is control.’
He added: ‘This Prime Minister does remain pretty focussed on what is going on.’
Mr Foley, pictured in Syria in 2012, was determined to document the plight of suffering Muslims in the Middle East
The US journalist also documented the violence in Tripoli, Libya, during the conflict in August 2011
Mr Hammond
said the Government knew there were 'a significant number of British
nationals in Syria and Iraq operating with extremist organisations'.
Among
them is Nasser Muthana - the 20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who
appeared in a chilling ISIS recruitment video earlier in the year.
In
a disturbing twist he appeared to attend some sort of screening of the
video in Syria before it was officially released, telling another
militant: 'Yo bare ikhwa [brothers] here wana watch it come here lad.'
That tweet - sent using the nom
de guerre Abul Muthanna - was in response to an invitation he received
to watch what was described as the 'hilarious' video in a nearby
internet cafe.
In a disturbing twist Nasser Muthana - the
20-year-old Cardiff-raised jihadist who appeared in a chilling ISIS
recruitment video earlier in the year - appeared to attend a screening
of the video in Syria before it was released. He invited another
militant to join him, declaring there are 'bare ikhwa' [ISIS fighters]
there to watch
Mr
Hammond the number of British nationals fighting in Syria is 'one of
the reasons why this organisation represents such a direct threat to the
UK's national security.
‘Many
of these people may seek at some point to return to the UK and they
would then pose a direct threat to our domestic security.’
He
acknowledged that ‘significant numbers’ of British nationals had been
involved in ‘terrible crimes’ and ‘probably in the commission of
atrocities’.
‘This
is a poison, a cancer, what's going on in Iraq and Syria and it risks
spreading to other parts of the international community and affecting us
all directly.’
He added: ‘This may come as news to some people but it certainly does not come as news to us.
‘We
are absolutely aware that there are significant numbers of British
nationals involved in terrible crimes, probably in the commission of
atrocities, making jihad with IS and other extremist organisations.
Photo journalist James Foley went missing in Syria two years ago
‘This
is something we have been tracking and dealing with for many, many
months, I don't think this video changes anything it just heightens
awareness of a situation which is very grave and which we have been
working on for many months.’
The video of the beheading is being investigated by the Obama administration.
The
victim, wearing an orange outfit, makes a statement during the
five-minute video entitled ‘A message to America’ released by the
Islamic State Al-Furqan foundation.
During
the speech he said he wanted to call on family, friends and loved ones
to ‘rise up against my real killers, the US government’.
He added: ‘For what will happen to me is only the result of their complacency and criminality’.
The
statement, during which Foley is seen to pause and take deep breaths,
ended with him saying he wished he could see his family again.
The
IS fighter standing next to him is then seen brandishing a knife before
accusing America of ‘aggression towards the Islamic state’.
He said: ‘You have plotted against us and gone far out of your way to find reasons to interfere in our affairs.
In
a chilling threat in which he singles out President Barack Obama, he
says further actions in Iraq by America ‘will result in the bloodshed of
your people’.
The masked, armed and robe-clad man speaks in
perfect English in what sounds like a London or southern English
accent.'HE WAS AWARE OF THE DANGERS BUT BELIEVED IN WHAT HE WAS DOING': FOLEY HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN KIDNAPPED IN SYRIA, FRIEND REVEALS
James Foley knew his job carried risks but 'believed in what he was doing' covering the Syrian conflict, a friend said.
The 40-year-old New Englander had been kidnapped before while covering fighting in Libya, but had been eager to get back into action, film-maker Matthew VanDyke told BBC Radio 4's Today.
He said seeing news reports of his friend's death was 'a complete nightmare' and urged other reporters in Syria and Iraq to take care, saying 'if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody'.
Mr Van Dyke said: 'He was certainly aware of the dangers, he was very professional... He had been through a rough time in Libya when he was captured and even after that he came home a little bit and then he went right back to Libya to continue reporting on that conflict.'
Brave: James Wright Foley has previously been
kidnapped in Libya but had been keen to remain a conflict journalist as
he 'believed in what he was doing'
Mr Van Dyke said his friend went into Syria knowing that his presence amid the conflict was as dangerous, if not more so, than it had been in Libya.
'[But] he had a love for what he did and he wanted to tell the story of the Syrian people. And nothing was going to stop him from doing that.'
After being captured in Libya, Foley was held by the government alongside a small group of other journalists, but was released and given a one-year suspended sentence on charges of illegally entering the country.
In an interview about that experience, Foley said he 'would love to go back', but recalled the horror of seeing a colleague killed in a firefight. He also spoke of a love of his profession.
'Journalism is journalism,' he said. 'If I had a choice to do Nashua [New Hampshire] zoning meetings or give up journalism, I'll do it. I love writing and reporting.'
In an interview the BBC in a 2012 interview that he was '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.'
Some experts have
since suggested the executioner's accent also has mild North African
intonations, which could well mean he moved to Britain
at a young age.
After
the victim is apparently beheaded, another man, said to be journalist
Steven Joel Sotloff, who went missing near the border of Syria and
Turkey last year, is shown at the end of the video, with the IS fighter
saying his life depends on President Obama's ‘next decision’.
Sotloff has been missing since the
middle of 2013 and last tweeted on August 3rd, 2013 about his hometown
basketball team the Miami Heat.
According to his Twitter account he was in Libya at the time of his disappearance.
A
message posted on a Facebook page called ‘Free James Foley’ last night
read: ‘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.’
Mr
Foley's mother Diane released a statement saying the family ‘have never
been prouder’ of him, and pleading with the kidnappers not to kill any
other hostages.
‘We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.
Background: Prior to a career in conflict
journalism, James Wright Foley taught reading and writing skills to
convicted felons at Cook County Jail in Chicago
‘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. Please respect our privacy in the days
ahead as we mourn and cherish Jim.’Foley, has been missing since November 2012, after being taken hostage at gunpoint by militants from the group Jabhat al Nusra while reporting from Taftanaz, northern Syria, for the GlobalPost.
Jabhat al Nusra subsequently joined forces with ISIS - which did not exist in anything like its current form when Foley was taken - which explains how he ended up in their hands.
The sickening video was designed to send a clear signal to the U.S. to halt the airstrikes that have destroyed a significant amount of ISIS' military equipment in and around the Mosul Dam, and allowed Kurdish Peshmerga to reclaim the strategically important complex.
This morning U.S. jets were seen in the air above the dam as the Kurdish troops who now control it were drawn into fighting with ISIS fighters who remain in the area, hoping to retake control.
STILL ALIVE: ISIS THREATENS TO KILL AMERICAN JOURNALIST STEVEN JOEL SOTLOFF NEXT
Next? Soltoff has been missing since August 2013, when he disappeared while reporting near Aleppo
At the end of the disturbing video, the masked ISIS operative issues a threat to kill another American journalist held captive if President Obama continues to order attacks against the group invading Iraq.
Freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff is paraded in front of the camera, and held by the collar of his shirt as the operatives says: 'The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision'.
Sotloff has been missing since August 2013, when he was kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria.
He sent out his last tweet on August 3, talking about his hometown basketball team the Miami Heat.
According to his account, he was living in Benghazi, Libya at the time.
ABC News foreign editor Jon Williams tweeted today that Sotloff's family were previously advised not to go public with news of his disappearance.
But a family friend wrote about Sotloff last December, saying he went missing August 4 and to pray for his return.
Sotloff, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, had been published in TIME, World Affairs, National Interest and the Christian Science Monitor.
The last story he filed was on November 26, 2012 titled 'Libya's New Crisis'
'Steve Sotloff lived in Yemen for years, spoke good Arabic, deeply loved the Islamic world..for this he is threatened with beheading,' friend Anne Marloe tweeted on Tuesday, following the video's release.
In the video, Sotloff did not speak, and appeared with a shaved head and face.
Then and now: Sotloff is pictured in a contributor photo for a 2011
Daily Caller photo on the left, compared to the man identified as
Sotloff in the beheading video on the right
UK jihadis among the 'most vicious and vociferous fighters' in the world
British
extremists are among the most ‘most vicious and vociferous fighters’ in
the Islamic State's ranks in Syria and Iraq, a jihadism expert has
said.
Sunni
Muslims from the UK are taking part in the conflicts ‘in every way’,
according to Shiraz Maher, from King's College London's International
Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
That
includes acting as suicide bombers and executioners, he told BBC Radio
4's Today programme after a video purporting to show US journalist James
Foley being beheaded by a Britis IS fighter was placed online.
US reporter Daniel Pearl (left) was murdered in Pakistan by British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh (right)
Mr
Foley is the second American journalist killed by a Islamist terrorist.
Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was murdered by British born
Omar Saeed Sheikh in Pakistan in 2002.
The
black-clothed and masked man, who speaks with a London accent,
threatened bloodshed in the gruesome video, speaking with confidence of
when he accuses America of plotting against Muslims and interfering in
their affairs, before taking a knife to his victim's throat.
If
it is confirmed, as it appears, that he is British he will be seen as
the most extreme example yet of a fighter travelling from the UK to take
part in brutal violence as part of the militant Islamic State (IS)
movement.
Mr
Maher, a senior research fellow at ICSR, told Today: ‘Unfortunately the
British participation in the conflicts now raging in both Syria and
Iraq has been has been one of full participation, one that has seen them
at the front lines, taking part in the conflict in every way.
‘So we have seen British fighters out there operating as suicide bombers, we have seen them operating as executioners.
‘Unfortunately
they are amongst some of the most vicious and vociferous fighters who
are out there. That is unfortunately just a part of their
radicalisation.’
A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa
I fear our panic stricken politicians are leading us into another bloody shambles in Iraq, says GENERAL SIR MICHAEL ROSE
Amid the horror stories coming from Iraq, there seems to be little
constructive thought from Western politicians on how to solve the
issues that confront the country, writes General Sir Michael Rose.
'Spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim they are innocents': Brave mother of beheaded American journalist calls on ISIS to cease killing as she pays tribute to her 'extraordinary son'
American freelance photo-journalist James Wright Foley has been
beheaded by ISIS in a video message posted online and titled as ‘A
Message to America’.
Twitter to consider removing gory photographs of dead people at request of family members but Google warns graphic images could have important news value
Twitter has said it will consider the removal of images of dead
people at the request of family members. It comes after the shocking
beheading of American journalist, James Foley, yesterday.
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