Following the release of an undated video of a beheading believed to be of American journalist James Foley, British Muslim leaders are urging the public to contact police if they have leads to identify the man who had taken part in the gruesome killing. Reuters said the Muslim Council of Britain, which is the largest umbrella group of Muslims in the country, is asking the public for help in identifying the man in the video who has an English accent. The group has since expressed condemnation in the murder of the journalist in Syria and is calling for the stop of "poison of extremism" in their communities.
In a separate report, the news agency said the 40 year-old American was beheaded by an Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS) militant. The horrific video, which was released on the Internet on Tuesday, has put Washington on the spotlight regarding its actions prior to the beheading. Washington has since said that it has made unsuccessful attempts to rescue Foley, along with other American hostages, early this summer.
In the video, Foley was seen in orange garb, with his brunette locks shaven clean as he kneels in the dirt somewhere which is believed to be in the Middle East, the New York Times observed. His executioner said in the video before beheading Foley that he is doing it to retaliate against the US in the airstrikes against his group in Iraq.
Citing interviews from a representative of Foley's family, family members of the other American hostages, and mediators who had tried to win the victims' freedom from the terrorist group, the paper said that all of them expressed exasperation over the Obama administration's stance in dealing with folks like them. It is to recall that the US, unlike other European countries, has a national policy in dealing with terrorists, which is to not strike a deal with them, and ransom payment is quickly out of the question.
Columnist David Rohde, a former foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and then released by the Taliban, said that there is a need for the US, particularly the Obama administration, to reconsider dealing with sensitive situations like this. He wrote in his column, "A consistent response to kidnapping by the U.S. and Europe is desperately needed. The current haphazard approach is failing."
