On Saturday, August 23, 2014, NBC reported that the White House officially named the horrific murder of James Wright Foley a terrorist attack.There is no question whether or not the viewers of the gruesome video showing Foley’s last words before his horrific death were in shock. The group of terrorists to blame for Foley’s death is a group named ISIS. ISIS, standing for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, held Foley captive since 2012.
Many complex and precise rescue operations were planned, and failed, to rescue Foley. In July of 2014, President Obama released to the press that yet another operation had been tried to free Foley from his captors. This operation involved many casualties of the ISIS forces and one minor injury from the U.S. forces. Foley and the other captives were not located, and once again, the US had failed in the attempt to free the American journalist.
When all hope for the rescue of their son began to decay, Foley’s parents received an email from their son’s captors. The email blamed the U.S. for the disappearance of their son and for refusing to pay the ransom for Foley’s release. Also, ISIS warned Foley’s mother and father that if the U.S. continued rescue efforts using military force, ISIS would murder James Foley.
At a loss with what to do, the U.S. government continued rescue efforts. These efforts did not cease until August 19, 2014 when a video was uploaded from ISIS entitled “A Message to America” which showed a masked man in the dessert with Foley.
The death of Foley was shown on the video along with another American who would be the next to die if the US wouldn’t stop bombings against Iraq. On August 20, 2014, the US government confirmed the authenticity of the video and sent their condolences to Foley’s devastated family.
Photo by: Rafael Angel Fernandez