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| Obama: murder of James Foley 'shocks the conscience of the entire world' | Obama: murder of James Foley 'shocks the conscience of the entire world' |
| (6 days later) | |
| President Barack Obama denounced Islamic State (Isis) militants for murdering an American journalist in retaliation for US air strikes in Iraq, vowing no let-up in the campaign in Iraq and calling on American allies to united against the group. | President Barack Obama denounced Islamic State (Isis) militants for murdering an American journalist in retaliation for US air strikes in Iraq, vowing no let-up in the campaign in Iraq and calling on American allies to united against the group. |
| Showing an anger he has rarely displayed in remarks about the Iraq conflict, Obama denounced the beheading of James Foley as appalling. “No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and every single day,” Obama said Wednesday in brief remarks from Edgerton, Massachusetts, where he is vacationing. | Showing an anger he has rarely displayed in remarks about the Iraq conflict, Obama denounced the beheading of James Foley as appalling. “No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and every single day,” Obama said Wednesday in brief remarks from Edgerton, Massachusetts, where he is vacationing. |
| Hours after US intelligence authenticated a gruesome Isis videotape showing the murder of Foley, an act committed with the goal of deterring future US strikes on Isis, Obama said that Isis “has no place in the 21st century,” and called on allies to help defeat a “cancer so it does not spread.” | Hours after US intelligence authenticated a gruesome Isis videotape showing the murder of Foley, an act committed with the goal of deterring future US strikes on Isis, Obama said that Isis “has no place in the 21st century,” and called on allies to help defeat a “cancer so it does not spread.” |
| He said that “governments and peoples across the Middle East” must launch a “common effort to extract this cancer, so that it does not spread,” rather than committing to a new course of action himself. | He said that “governments and peoples across the Middle East” must launch a “common effort to extract this cancer, so that it does not spread,” rather than committing to a new course of action himself. |
| But Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, appeared prepared to make that commitment, saying bluntly that Isis “must be destroyed.” | But Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, appeared prepared to make that commitment, saying bluntly that Isis “must be destroyed.” |
| Kerry, who was more hawkish than the rest of the administration on the subject of attacking the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last year, said in a statement: “Make no mistake: we will continue to confront [Isis] wherever it tries to spread its despicable hatred. The world must know that the United States of America will never back down in the face of such evil.” | Kerry, who was more hawkish than the rest of the administration on the subject of attacking the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria last year, said in a statement: “Make no mistake: we will continue to confront [Isis] wherever it tries to spread its despicable hatred. The world must know that the United States of America will never back down in the face of such evil.” |
| Shortly after Obama spoke, US Central Command confirmed 14 new airstrikes against Isis near the Mosul Dam, which the Pentagon and Iraqi forces said on Tuesday is no longer under Isis control. | Shortly after Obama spoke, US Central Command confirmed 14 new airstrikes against Isis near the Mosul Dam, which the Pentagon and Iraqi forces said on Tuesday is no longer under Isis control. |
| With Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting below, US fighter jets and drones “destroyed or damaged” six Isis Humvees, three homemade-bomb emplacements, a mortar tube and two armed trucks, Central Command announced. Their strikes represent the first attack on Isis since Foley was killed. | |
| An emotional Obama ran through a litany of Isis human-rights abuses, from rape to enslavement, calling them “cowardly acts of violence.” In a vague reference to Americans held captive by Isis or near its path in Iraq, Obama said the US would “do everything we can to protect our people,” a formulation that has preceded US military action in the past. | An emotional Obama ran through a litany of Isis human-rights abuses, from rape to enslavement, calling them “cowardly acts of violence.” In a vague reference to Americans held captive by Isis or near its path in Iraq, Obama said the US would “do everything we can to protect our people,” a formulation that has preceded US military action in the past. |
| With the death of the first American in Iraq since the US military withdrew in 2011, pressure is mounting on Obama to expand his already growing and amorphous air war against Isis. | With the death of the first American in Iraq since the US military withdrew in 2011, pressure is mounting on Obama to expand his already growing and amorphous air war against Isis. |
| The stated purpose of nearly two weeks of bombing has moved from the rescue of mostly Yazidi Iraqi civilians at risk of genocide to providing air cover for Kurdish and Iraqi forces wresting the strategically vital Mosul Dam away from Isis. Aides to Obama pointed out from the start that threats to critical infrastructure would likely prompt a US reprisal. | The stated purpose of nearly two weeks of bombing has moved from the rescue of mostly Yazidi Iraqi civilians at risk of genocide to providing air cover for Kurdish and Iraqi forces wresting the strategically vital Mosul Dam away from Isis. Aides to Obama pointed out from the start that threats to critical infrastructure would likely prompt a US reprisal. |
| Buffeted between calls to destroy Isis and criticism of their shifting rationale, Obama and the Pentagon have strenuously objected to a charge of mission creep. They point out the consistency of the goals Obama has articulated since 8 August: preventing humanitarian catastrophe and protecting US personnel in Iraq. | Buffeted between calls to destroy Isis and criticism of their shifting rationale, Obama and the Pentagon have strenuously objected to a charge of mission creep. They point out the consistency of the goals Obama has articulated since 8 August: preventing humanitarian catastrophe and protecting US personnel in Iraq. |
| Yet both are broad enough to encompass aerial protection of Iraqi Kurdistan and the destruction of Isis vehicles, artillery and fixed positions from Mount Sinjar to the Mosul Dam. The murder of Foley – delivered after he gave a statement at knifepoint blaming the US for his death – and Isis’s threat to kill another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, is also testing Obama’s goal of safeguarding US nationals in a country overrun by Isis. | Yet both are broad enough to encompass aerial protection of Iraqi Kurdistan and the destruction of Isis vehicles, artillery and fixed positions from Mount Sinjar to the Mosul Dam. The murder of Foley – delivered after he gave a statement at knifepoint blaming the US for his death – and Isis’s threat to kill another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, is also testing Obama’s goal of safeguarding US nationals in a country overrun by Isis. |
| National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Wednesday that the video showed both Foley and Sotloff. | National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Wednesday that the video showed both Foley and Sotloff. |
| Leaders from the UK, France and other countries lined up to excoriate Isis for the slaying. British prime minister David Cameron called it “shocking” and cut short his summer holiday to chair meetings on a response. A particularly acute concern for the UK government is the British accent heard from Foley’s masked killer. US intelligence believes hundreds of westerners, including Americans, have joined Isis. | Leaders from the UK, France and other countries lined up to excoriate Isis for the slaying. British prime minister David Cameron called it “shocking” and cut short his summer holiday to chair meetings on a response. A particularly acute concern for the UK government is the British accent heard from Foley’s masked killer. US intelligence believes hundreds of westerners, including Americans, have joined Isis. |
| In the UK, Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, SO15, launched an investigation into the video as leading linguistics experts said the man sounded like he was from London or the south-east of England. | In the UK, Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, SO15, launched an investigation into the video as leading linguistics experts said the man sounded like he was from London or the south-east of England. |
| The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said of the video: “All the hallmarks point to it being genuine. We’re very concerned by the apparent fact that the murderer in question is British and we are urgently investigating – agencies on both sides of the Atlantic – are first of all looking to authenticate the video, to make sure that it is genuine, and sadly it appears to be, and then to see if we can identify the individual in question.” | The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said of the video: “All the hallmarks point to it being genuine. We’re very concerned by the apparent fact that the murderer in question is British and we are urgently investigating – agencies on both sides of the Atlantic – are first of all looking to authenticate the video, to make sure that it is genuine, and sadly it appears to be, and then to see if we can identify the individual in question.” |
| A spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel called Foley’s murder barbaric. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said it exposed Isis as the “caliphate of barbarism”. French president Francois Hollande told Le Monde that a global effort “beyond the traditional debate of intervention or non-intervention” was necessary to confront Isis, and proposed an international meeting next month. | A spokesman for German chancellor Angela Merkel called Foley’s murder barbaric. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said it exposed Isis as the “caliphate of barbarism”. French president Francois Hollande told Le Monde that a global effort “beyond the traditional debate of intervention or non-intervention” was necessary to confront Isis, and proposed an international meeting next month. |
| With a brutality so severe it prompted al-Qaida to divorce it from the terrorist franchise, Isis has fulfilled a jihadist aspiration to carve out a state. It flies a flag, sets up internal police to govern its subjects’ adherence to its interpretation of Islamic laws and customs, and maintains financial viability through the control of seized oil assets. While other jihadist entities employ terrorist and insurgent tactics, for which infiltration of another’s populace is central, Isis has mustered a highly mobile army that seizes and holds territory. | With a brutality so severe it prompted al-Qaida to divorce it from the terrorist franchise, Isis has fulfilled a jihadist aspiration to carve out a state. It flies a flag, sets up internal police to govern its subjects’ adherence to its interpretation of Islamic laws and customs, and maintains financial viability through the control of seized oil assets. While other jihadist entities employ terrorist and insurgent tactics, for which infiltration of another’s populace is central, Isis has mustered a highly mobile army that seizes and holds territory. |
| Foley’s killer emphasized in a propaganda video that Isis is a state, not a terrorist group, a distinction that is fundamental to the group’s prestige. On Wednesday, Obama repeatedly called Isis “terrorists.” | Foley’s killer emphasized in a propaganda video that Isis is a state, not a terrorist group, a distinction that is fundamental to the group’s prestige. On Wednesday, Obama repeatedly called Isis “terrorists.” |
| The Committee to Protect Journalists said the murder of Foley, 40, who went missing during a reporting trip to Syria in 2012, “sickens all decent people”. | The Committee to Protect Journalists said the murder of Foley, 40, who went missing during a reporting trip to Syria in 2012, “sickens all decent people”. |
| “Foley went to Syria to show the plight of the Syrian people, to bear witness to their fight, and in so doing to fight for press freedom,” Sandra Mims Rowe, the group’s chair, said in a statement. | “Foley went to Syria to show the plight of the Syrian people, to bear witness to their fight, and in so doing to fight for press freedom,” Sandra Mims Rowe, the group’s chair, said in a statement. |
| In a Facebook message attributed to her, Foley’s mother Diane said: “We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.” She also asked the media and the public to respect her family’s privacy. | In a Facebook message attributed to her, Foley’s mother Diane said: “We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.” She also asked the media and the public to respect her family’s privacy. |
| Obama hailed Foley, who he called Jim, and said he had called Foley’s parents. | Obama hailed Foley, who he called Jim, and said he had called Foley’s parents. |
| Foley’s murder, Obama said, was “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world.” | Foley’s murder, Obama said, was “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world.” |