ISIS, the Islamic Jihadi terrorist group marching through large swaths of Syria and Iraq, have just released a horrific video showing the beheading of photojournalist James Wright Foley. In the video, Foley, who was captured by ISIS militants in Libya in 2012 was shown dressed in an orange prison-like jumpsuit, bound and kneeling next to a hooded terrorist. Foley was reading a scripted statement in which he claimed the US was to blame for his impending execution, as well as for any future murders committed by the terrorist group. After reading the forced statement, he is gruesomely murdered by the militants. He was 40 years old.
ISIS is a brutally aggressive terror group whose immediate goal is to take control over Syria and Iraq and establish a Islamic Caliph — which would result in strict Sharia law for all citizens. The group has had success earlier this summer, having taken over cities in both countries and defeating the Iraqi military during more than a couple bloody battles. In the cities where ISIS holds control, those who don’t conform to Islamic Sharia law are routinely executed via gruesome methods such as crucifixion or beheading. Many other citizens are punished in violent ways, even when the crimes committed are petty or for exhibiting merely un-islamic behavior.
President Obama has ordered airstrikes on ISIS strongholds in order to break their advances on other key cities in the region, but some of the more hawkish members of Congress have claimed the President’s efforts are not enough. While the President may be reluctant to put boots on the ground after fully withdrawing American troops from Iraq last year, many wonder if a full scale military operation is the only effective strategy.
The US is already quite war-weary after nearly a decade and a half of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, but ISIS does not seem to be slowing down, and they have repeatedly made claims to attack America within the homeland.
