Beheading of second American journalist sparks international outrage
In the war against Islamic fundamentalists and terror tactics, which has reigned for fewer than 60 years, few religious factions have risen to power so dramatically as the now-notorious Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Although the deadly reputation of ISIS has only risen to the foreground recently, the fundamentalist group began more than two decades ago and has maintained survival under several names and locations. The group has also been closely association with Al-Qaeda and other militant groups.
The ISIS was incepted by a Jordanian man named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a one-time street thug who later became a renowned Mujahideen. Musab al-Zarqawi initially formed ISIS under the name Jama’at al-Tawhid w’al-Jihad (the Party of Monotheism and Jihad). Al-Zarqawi’s targets varied from other terrorist groups; from the very start, his intentions were to eradicate other Muslims, specifically targeting Iraq’s Shiite population.
Later, the group reformed under the name AQI (Al-Qaeda in Iraq). Al-Zarqawi’s violent campaign of relentless suicide bombings across Iraq earned him the status of “superstar” in the international Jihadist networks, eventually acquainting him with Bin-Laden and connecting him with the Al-Qaedian army of Jihad militants. Quickly after this collaboration, however, al-Zarqawi’s targeting of fellow Muslims found him ejected from Al-Qaeda.
Al-Zarqawi’s campaign was cut short when he was killed in 2006 by U.S. airstrikes. His death sparked an uprising against AQI, bringing other Sunni Tribes to join forces with U.S. military. Tribes who had previously fought against America were given weapons to take down AQI. Eventually, however, these tribes united with AQI in order to gain political power in Baghdad, becoming what is now known as the ISIS.
The death of journalist James Foley, the first American citizen to be killed by the ISIS in a video titled “A Message to America,” made international headlines in August, and in early September, American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff’s execution video sparked an international frenzy regarding the unusually barbaric nature of these murders.
The second video, titled “A Second Message to America,” went viral Sept. 2, and shows the abducted Sotloff beheaded by an ISIS militant. For the duration of the two minute video, Sotloff is on his knees, wearing an orange jumpsuit in a desert region accompanied by a masked ISIS militant; a similar setting to the first video of James Foley’s death. Shortly before his brutal beheading, 31-year-old Sotloff is seen delivering a prepared text.
The militant executioner is then heard: “I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State.” Later in the video, the executioner adds, “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”
Sotloff, a Florida native, had been held hostage for a year in Syria alongside Foley and many other captives. Following Foley’s execution in “A Message to America,” Sotloff was brought on screen; the masked militants paraded Sotloff around and threatened to kill him unless the US renounced their airstrikes on the area.
Obama, who has been the focal point of this conflict, acted by increasing the number of airstrikes on the area just days after the release of Foley’s execution video. ISIS did not break their promise, beheading Sotloff the following week.
At least two more journalists are believed to be held hostage in the area, adding to the 80 or more journalists who have been kidnapped by the militants since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 – more than 70 of which have been brutally murdered.