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President Obama says exposing the 鈥渨arped ideology鈥� of the Islamic State (IS) will be a key part of the strategy for defeating the militant organization controlling large parts of Iraq and Syria.

A slick new video released by IS Thursday that forgoes the shocking beheadings of Westerners and instead employs a British journalist hostage as a spokesman for the group鈥檚 cause demonstrates just how difficult the information battle with IS is going to be.

The propaganda film, entitled 鈥淟end Me Your Ears,鈥� shows British journalist John Cantlie seated behind a desk, explaining to the camera what he says is the 鈥渢ruth鈥� about IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL. He warns Westerners that 鈥渙ur governments鈥� are getting involved in 鈥測et another unwinnable war.鈥�

Previous IS videos, including those showing the horrific beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines, appeared to be primarily aimed at young disaffected men in Muslim and Western countries drawn to the jihadist cause. A perception of empowerment is drawing thousands of foreign fighters to join the group鈥檚 ranks, experts in terrorist ideology say.

But Thursday鈥檚 video appears to target the war-weary populations of the West, the United States and Britain in particular. 鈥淎fter two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,鈥� Mr. Cantlie says, Western media and leaders are once again 鈥渄rag[ging] the public back to the abyss of another war.鈥�

Cantlie was taken hostage in Syria in November 2012 as he rode in a car with Mr. Foley.

The video was released a day after the US House voted overwhelmingly in favor of Mr. Obama鈥檚 request for funds to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels who are fighting IS forces. The Senate approved the authorization later Thursday.

US officials charged with developing the ideological dimension of the administration鈥檚 anti-IS strategy bristle at the suggestion that the US is in a battle with a group whose ideology is attractive to significant numbers of young Muslims around the world.

鈥淭here is no battle of ideas with ISIL [because] ISIL is bereft of ideas: They are bankrupt of ideas,鈥� said Richard Stengel, the US undersecretary of State for public diplomacy and public affairs, speaking this week at the American Security Project think tank in Washington. IS is nothing more than 鈥渁 criminal, savage, barbaric organization,鈥� Mr. Stengel said.

But he acknowledged reasons the group is able to recruit foreign fighters, including the lack of economic opportunity for many young Muslim men and a scant 鈥渁bility of individuals to be empowered in the Arab world.鈥�

Stengel, a former managing editor at Time magazine, also acknowledged what many media and communications experts have said for months: IS knows how to manipulate modern media methods.

鈥淭hey are very adept at information warfare, at digital warfare, where they are laying a kind of predicate for what they do on the battlefield in the digital space,鈥� Stengel said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e very sophisticated.鈥�

The latest IS video offers additional evidence of that sophistication.

Cantlie, who lists the British publications he鈥檚 worked for, answers directly the assumed suspicion of viewers that he is speaking under duress. 鈥淣ow, I know what you鈥檙e thinking. You鈥檙e thinking: 鈥楬e鈥檚 only doing this because he鈥檚 a prisoner. He鈥檚 got a gun at his head, and he鈥檚 being forced to do this.鈥� Right? Well, it鈥檚 true. I am a prisoner, that I cannot deny,鈥� says Cantlie, who appears wearing a prisoner鈥檚 orange jumpsuit.

But he goes on to say, 鈥淗aving been abandoned by my own government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose. Maybe I will live and maybe I will die,鈥� he adds, 鈥渂ut I want to take this opportunity to convey some facts that you can verify.鈥�

Appearing to read from a script and at times sounding nervous, Cantlie says he will be back with a series of videos offering more 鈥渧erifiable facts鈥� about IS.

Cantlie, who notes that IS controls 鈥渁 landmass bigger than Britain and many other nations,鈥� also makes a point of saying that some European governments have been willing to 鈥渘egotiate鈥� with IS to free their hostage citizens, while the US and Britain have not. That issue has developed as a wedge between Western governments, with the US and Britain criticizing the French and other governments for paying large ransoms in exchange for their citizens.

Experts note it鈥檚 impossible to know if Cantlie was speaking sincerely, and they鈥檝e speculated that other hostages have read under force.

In his Washington talk, Stengel said the US government is actively countering the messages that IS and other groups are issuing on a daily basis. He cited in particular the State Department鈥檚 Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), which works in real time and in six languages to respond to and debunk IS鈥檚 expanding cybermessaging.

The CSCC only recently added English to the list of languages it works in, Stengel noted. The latest IS video 鈥� featuring a British journalist announcing a series of coming lectures in English 鈥� suggests that decision was a timely one.