RIP Mr. Foley.

[~~tiny3~~]

You did your job well in a very dangerous place and lost your life,.... Your murderers will be caught and punished. The world can not falter in capturing and punishing the perpetrator of this horrific act/crime
/against humanity/his family. I salute a true hero, rest, rest in peace.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/19/medieval-cruelty-in-modern-times-isis-beheads-american-journalist.htmle

[Jane2]

It is past time that something is done to eradicate the heathens known as Isis. Past the time!

[SNAFU]

I actually saw the whole video. It disturbs me to no end the senseless violence and brutality that people do in the name of religion! They are also cowards who do these deeds with their faces obscured.

[CarlosAlberto]

...no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. ~ President Barack Obama

[Brian07663NJ]

SNAFU - I too watched the video. Part of me wants to not believe what I saw. It is absolutely incomprehensible how a human can do that to another human. I am trying to comfort myself that Mr Foley's pain did not last long although from the amount that they showed (then cut away) then the final scene (not saying because of respect for those who do not want the details) it is hard to believe it was an easy task physically. I pray that in the early part of the process (for lack of a better word) that he was no longer there.

How can these animal think that anyone can have compassion for them after this brutality???

[CarlosAlberto]

I absolutely refuse to watch that video. Seeing another human being murdered is not something I care to engage in. Don't get me wrong, I am not in any way judging those of you who have. I am no one to judge. I just don't understand why someone would want to see that, but to each his own.

Just knowing what happened angers and saddens me.

[Brian07663NJ]

Carlos...I understand your position and those who choose not to watch it.

I wanted to see what they made him read to the camera. I wanted to hear his voice and see his face. I felt a certain amount of comfort seeing the courage Mr Foley had in his final moments. He was a very brave man. I doubt I would have been able to compose myself as stoically as he did.

There almost a necessity for many to watch just so that there is credibility that the cowards doing these unthinkable acts do not deserve to win the war they think they deserve to win.

I have seen worse horror movies than what was actually shown in the video. The act began and quickly faded out (at least in the video I saw) and by fading out it left more to the imagination which of course was probably worse than witnessing the entire brutal act.

I hope that my watching this can in some strange way deliver to Mr Foley, wherever he is now, that my heart is with him and he was not alone in that vast wilderness in his final moments.

[SNAFU]

These images should not be swept under the rug! They should not be disregarded! I too watched to hear the propaganda, to see what these enemys of civilization are proclaiming in behalf of their beliefs.
Turning one's head does not make the problem go away. We found thata out during WWII!

[Jane2]

Well, I don't think it's necessary to watch a beheading for any reason. I couldn't even watch the movie Hostel and that wasn't real.

my two cents.

[SNAFU]

Jane, the video was Foley reading a prepared speech, then the screed spoken by the masked English Islamist, then up to the point where the knife was put to his throat. The video was cut and then there was just a still of the aftermath. The actual beheading was not filmed. It was then followed by another captured American kneeling and a warning to Obama. It is necessary to know what these animals are thinking. To turn away, to not listen, is dangerous. To pay heed, get angered and take action is what is required. By candy frosting these events and not paying attention we are walking a dangerous path.

[Jane2]

I'm not saying turn away at all. I'm saying that the knowledge of the beheading is enough to sicken us, and I pray that we will do away with these subhumans but I fear that we won't. It doesn't look that way so far.

[SNAFU]

Jane, I feel the more Americans who view this video, taking them away from the Kim Kardashian wardrobe malfunction of the day, will do more to honor Foley and his LIFE.

[Musical Master]

I am speechless.... Just speechless. This is the most sickening thing I have witnessed and I hope Foley will be at peace forever.

[Jane2]

"Jane, I feel the more Americans who view this video, taking them away from the Kim Kardashian wardrobe malfunction of the day, will do more to honor Foley and his LIFE."

ok, ok, I admire that. I don't want to argue, as we both want the same thing in the long run.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

While I understand people's need to bear witness to Foley's last moments of life, I personally still refuse to watch it. For one thing, I don't trust myself. I don't trust that my intentions for watching the video are pure because I believe that deep down, I would be doing so more out of a sense of morbid curiosity. And I just refuse to allow this man's horrific last moments to be turned into a grotesque curiosity for me. It's my experience that a lot of people who watch these videos (and similar "gore" videos) do so more for the shock value or out of bravado. (I'm not insinuating anyone here is doing that!)

FWIW, James Foley's family has requested that people NOT watch the video:

Twitter Suspending Anyone Who Posts Images of the Deceased Foley

[FindingNamo]

A related thing is that I just have a very hard time listening to the President who uses drones trying to stake out a moral high ground and speaking in such absolutes as "no religion in the world/no god supports the slaughter of the innocent." The high ground just erodes beneath his feet.

I know we're actually supposed to not think of that but Jesus. Maybe there is something else that can be said where he doesn't get stuck with his shoe in the goo.

[NYadgal]

Those monsters known as ISIS have come right out of the pits of hell.

My thoughts and prayers are being sent to Mr. Foley's family. I can't imagine the horror and the pain.

[CarlosAlberto]

There was a time when for me ISIS was simply the ancient Egyptian Goddess of religious beliefs or a Saturday morning adventure series about high school science teacher Andrea Thomas who transforms into Isis via an amulet she found in an archeological dig.

Now ISIS is synonymous with these tyrannical monsters. UGH.

[Liza's Headband]

President Obama has failed on many fronts, but on droning he has not. Drone strikes are a perfectly appropriate and acceptable way of dealing with these terrorists who, according to leaked intelligence reports, pose a much higher threat to Americans than Al-Qaeda ever did (think about that for a moment...).

Who gives a flying f*ck about moral high ground? Exterminate these rats and cockroaches immediately. Those trying to defend these soulless monsters are traitors. When the King of Saudia Arabia, a Muslim known to support state terrorism, comes out in support of America's drone attacks, you know it's time to begin the ISIS demolition without hesitation.

[ErikJ972]

Living Under Drones

[FindingNamo]

"Those trying to defend these soulless monsters are traitors."

Thus sayeth the "centrist." Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa.

Those folks at the Stanford International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic are such TRAITORS!!!

Nobody's defending ISIS. But then again, the abscessory has spent MONTHS demonstrating the inability to comprehend the written word.

[GavestonPS]

Namo made his point quite clearly, IMO, and without defending the beheading of journalists.

What exactly IS the moral distinction between killing any non-combatant (journalist or not) and drone-bombing innocent civilians who have the misfortune to be invaded by terrorists?

Well, for one thing, the death toll from our drone attacks is much, much higher!

By Headband's reasoning (I use the word loosely), anyone who protested the My Lai massacre was also a "traitor".

[FindingNamo]

The Abscessory (real name Miss Ayn Marple) says the difference is YOU ARE A TRAITOR FOR ASKING THE QUESTION.

Hope that helps.

[dented146]

While the drone attacks seem a cowardly response and result in the loss of innocent life, there is a difference. We are not trying to eradicate the world of Islam.

ISIS does not tolerate anyone else. You join them or die. Our response has been feeble.

Mr. Foley showed great courage. And from the reports I have read about his torture and beatings at the hands of ISIS, it may be that his death ended his suffering. I pray for him and the others still being held and I wonder if our President gives a damn.

[GavestonPS]

I don't think anyone here will argue that Mr. Foley and his loved ones deserve anything less than our sympathy and moral indignation. But if we're going to be horrified by barbaric behavior, let's don't forget to look at our own.

The argument that 9/11 justifies any response, however lethal, seems to have no end. 3,000 of our people were killed 13 years ago in a terrible tragedy. In retaliation, we've killed well over 100,000 (mostly Iraqis) and dislocated as many as 2 million people in the Near East. Exactly how many do we get to kill before the score is settled?

[PalJoey]

Moral equivalencies are not a debating technique. They are an attempt to have the final word and choke off the rest of the conversation by introducing guilt as a supposed trump card.