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.
Frightening: James Wright Foley tenses as his executioner addresses the camera who says this act of revenge is in responce to US airstrikes on 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.
FULL MESSAGE FROM JAMES WRIGHT FOLEY’S MOTHER:
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. 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.
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.
‘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.’
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.Addressing the camera: James Wright Foley's executioner holds his knife and unfurls his reasons for taking the American journalists life before he beheads him 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. Sources: Mailonline
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