I didn’t want to watch another video of someone getting their head cut off. I was barely seventeen when video of WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl’s beheading was uploaded on the internet. The brutality of the Syrian Civil War, the children dead in pieces in Gaza, all of the other images of ISIS uploaded on to the internet were too much blood for me. And the fact that the video of James Foley kneeling in the hot sun next to a menacing, knife-wielding man was immediately yanked off of the internet meant for sure this video was more brutal than all the rest. Considering the sheer volume of grotesque imagery available on Youtube and Twitter, that which we cannot see must be more truly horrible. I asked a comrade if he saw the video, and he told me no, because that sort of thing wasn’t good for the mind. Everyone else said the same thing. And I had no desire to watch it. I could let others tell me about it.
But here’s my comrade telling me to watch it, go ahead and watch it. He sends me a live leak video. I watch it, and if James Foley really is dead, there is no conclusive evidence here – there is barely any gore, in fact no active representation of fatal violence (not counting Obama’s speech at the beginning). The only blood in the video is in the still image of a decapitated body whose face is covered in blood. And there is no way to say that it’s James Foley. As the shrouded menace grabs James Foley by the chin and begins to saw away at his neck, the movement is exaggerated and there is no blood. Fade to black. Fade up on the photo of a body that may be Foley’s. Fin.
Journalists now are either saying they have not seen the video or they are saying that the video clearly shows the beheading of James Foley.
A Jumbotron-sized screen in downtown Beijing shows the execution of American journalist James Foley on a continuous loop.
A gigantic video screen in downtown Beijing is showing gruesome footage of the beheading of American journalist James Foley by Muslim extremists and images of racially charged riots in the Missouri town of Ferguson. – “In busy Beijing, graphic video of James Foley’s beheading is shown over and over on a giant screen” (NY Daily News)
…In the video Foley delivers a statement calling on his friends and family to “rise up against my real killers, the U.S. government.”
Then the ISIL member makes a statement. Speaking in what may possibly be a British accent, he identifies Foley and says his death is a direct result of American intervention in Iraq.
“So any attempt by you Obama, to deny the Muslims of living in safety under Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.”
He then beheads Foley. –“Video shows ISIL beheading of photojournalist James Foley” (Politico)
In the video posted Tuesday on YouTube, Foley is seen kneeling next to a man dressed in black. Foley reads a message, presumably scripted by his captors, that his “real killer” is America.
“I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope for freedom to see my family once again,” he can be heard saying in the video.
He is then shown being beheaded. –“Video shows ISIS beheading U.S. journalist James Foley” (CNN)
There is even an article in the BBC titled “Experts warn of trauma after watching Foley death video” – because while the footage of children hoisting decapitated heads high in Raqaa and stills from mass executions are brutal, sure, for some reason they don’t really compare to the trauma and brutality of watching a white American man allegedly begin to be murdered.
I don’t really know what has happened to James Foley, but the question of why we should pretend this video shows something that it does not deserves to be answered. Why the swift media blackout of the footage? Why the possible play-acting? Why the fake knife?
Maybe this all boils down to facts, and the refusal to share them with us, the refusal to follow-up on sources. Why was the media telling us that he was being held by the Syrian government until this video was released?
Why are they still saying that? Why is this man’s disappearance and alleged murder a casus belli that we are not allowed to review, one that journalists are steadfastly refusing to investigate?
And of course, we should ask the producer of this video – allegedly an ISIS guy – why bother to put something up that looked so weird, possibly fake? The organizing strategy of ISIS is clearly one of terror and nightmarish presentations of gore. Why did they leave it out for the Americans?
And now I really have to ask – how many fingers am I holding up? Do you see three? You’re wrong, it’s four. Try harder.
If the video does not portrays a real execution, what could be other possible explanations?
A plot for Obama to justify invasion of Syria?
This could be a way to make the “war on terror” become “more traditional”, where things could be handled quickly and efficiently, by a direct US attack.
But, why play with human life and Foley’s family like that? It’d be difficult to justify it afterwards, if the plot was discovered.
Another possibility is that Foley could have been co-opted to cooperate with ISIS agenda in exchange for his life?
If later Foley is shown to be alive and the plot is revealed, they’d have the justification of having done the video to call attention to their “cause”.
The CNN report, says that ” … The Committee to Protect Journalists estimates there are about 20 journalists missing in Syria, many of them held by ISIS…”
What are they doing with all this people, preparing 20 beheadings? If this is a political plot and not just an act of diabolical brutality, the more violence they show the more attention they’ll bring over their fight, meaning, on the one hand, that they’re really wanting to do whatever it takes to create their “caliphate”, while, on the other hand, they could in the end reveal that they were just playing a game to advance their cause, and their image in history will be cleaner and more acceptable.
After all, their caliphate will be the new Syria-Iraq country, part of the international community of nations and Islam is the religion of peace.
As a human being, I hope / wish the 2nd possible explanation is the correct one.
m a n y f e s t ø 
If the video does not portrays a real execution, what could be other possible explanations?
A plot for Obama to justify invasion of Syria?
This could be a way to make the “war on terror” become “more traditional”, where things could be handled quickly and efficiently, by a direct US attack.
But, why play with human life and Foley’s family like that? It’d be difficult to justify it afterwards, if the plot was discovered.
Another possibility is that Foley could have been co-opted to cooperate with ISIS agenda in exchange for his life?
If later Foley is shown to be alive and the plot is revealed, they’d have the justification of having done the video to call attention to their “cause”.
The CNN report, says that
” … The Committee to Protect Journalists estimates there are about 20 journalists missing in Syria, many of them held by ISIS…”
What are they doing with all this people, preparing 20 beheadings? If this is a political plot and not just an act of diabolical brutality, the more violence they show the more attention they’ll bring over their fight, meaning, on the one hand, that they’re really wanting to do whatever it takes to create their “caliphate”, while, on the other hand, they could in the end reveal that they were just playing a game to advance their cause, and their image in history will be cleaner and more acceptable.
After all, their caliphate will be the new Syria-Iraq country, part of the international community of nations and Islam is the religion of peace.
As a human being, I hope / wish the 2nd possible explanation is the correct one.
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