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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.
Foley - who went missing in 2012 while working for the Global Post news agency in Syria - is then beheaded with a small knife over a period of seven minutes by a masked man dressed all in black.
The executioner, who speaks directly to the camera in what appears to be a London accent, then warns that a second captured American journalist will be killed if the U.S. doesn't halt the airstrikes.
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 the 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.'
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.
Foley was one of 20 journalists currently missing in Syria, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Many of them are thought likely to have passed into ISIS' hands either because the kidnappers have subsequently sworn allegiance to group's self-declared caliphate, or because they were sold on.
British foreign secretary Phillip Hammond today said the footage 'appears to be genuine', which would make it the first time ISIS has killed an American since the conflict broke out in Syria in 2011.He added that it was 'an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation'.
Details of the James Foley beheading
As the disturbing video unfolds, 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.
Foley's voice is strong, but struggling at times to swallow as he battles against fear.
During his speech Foley brands the U.S. government his real killers, while his soon-to-be killer stands over him dressed in black robes and armed with a small knife and gun.
Foley also leaves a haunting message for his brother, John, who he is heard to say is either a past or serving member of the U.S. Air Force.
Referring to 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’
Foley goes on to blame the 'complacency and criminality' of the U.S. for his impending death.
Foley’s Final Words
In his final message to the world, no doubt prepared for him word-by-word by his captors, a resigned says he wished he'd been able to see his family again.
'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.'
In a final insult from his vengeful executioners before his brutal beheading - which takes seven minutes thanks to the killer's use of a small knife - 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,' he says.
Foley then stops speaking and his executioner steps forward. The masked, armed and robe-clad man speaks in perfect English in what sounds like a London or southern English accent.
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.
‘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,' the executioner says.
'Your strikes have caused casualties amongst Muslims. You are no longer fighting an insurgency.
'We are an Islamic Army and a state that has been accepted by a large number of Muslims worldwide.
'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.’
At this point the executioner slowly beheads Foley, who is kneeling bravely with hands tied behind his back. His prone body is subsequently displayed with the severed head placed mockingly on his back.
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.’
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.
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.
It is not immediately clear why Foley would have released an anti-American statement knowing that he was going to die, but it is likely to spare the life - temporarily at least - of another captive.
As Sotloff was in the same location and dressed in exactly the same orange robes as Foley - almost certainly a symbolic reference to the Muslim prisoners the U.S. holds on Guantanamo Bay - it may well have been to delay the death of his fellow journalist.
Gruesome images of Foley's brutal death were widely shared on social media - both in sickeningly celebratory tweets by crowing Islamists, and also by those that were shocked and appalled by the developments.
Although apparently unconnected, Twitter later released a statement saying it is reconsidering its image policy and may start removing images that show people in the moments before, during and immediately after death.
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-Daily Mail
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