Why did Islamic State militants execute James Foley?
The execution of journalist James Foley was intended to send a message to young radicalized Muslims from Britain to Yemen who are drawn to the Islamists鈥� fight.
John and Diane Foley talk to reporters outside their home in Rochester, N.H., Wednesday after speaking with President Obama. Their son, journalist James Foley, was executed by Islamic militants.
Jim Cole/AP
WASHINGTON
The video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley features a black-robed Islamic State militant claiming 鈥� in British-accented English 鈥� that the execution is in retribution for recent US air strikes against IS forces in Iraq.
The video also shows another prone and bound captured American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and issues a warning that he will suffer the same fate if the US pursues its military campaign against fighters for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
But while the IS militants who made and disseminated the gruesome video may have aimed on one level to halt the US air strikes, experts in Islamist terrorism and its messaging say the group had a range of objectives and audiences in mind.
In addition to President Obama 鈥� whom the black-robed executioner addresses directly 鈥� the message is intended for other Western leaders, moderate Muslims who would stand in IS鈥檚 way, as well as young radicalized Muslims from Britain to Yemen who are drawn to the Islamists鈥� fight.
鈥淐learly this kind of message has multiple audiences, and it wasn鈥檛 just President Obama and other Western decision-makers,鈥� says Jerrold Post, a professor of political psychology at George Washington University in Washington and author of 鈥淭he Mind of a Terrorist.鈥� 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 meant to remind moderate Muslims that they can expect to be treated just as harshly.鈥�
鈥淭his was also designed in part as a kind of recruitment film,鈥� he adds, 鈥渢o bring in the people who are inspired by the ruthlessness on the one hand, but also by the expression of leadership and power.鈥�
Indeed at one point in the video the IS fighter says, 鈥淵ou are no longer fighting an insurgency, we are an Islamic army.鈥� In other words, analysts say, the group is declaring to the world that IS is now indeed a state, exercising powers associated with states 鈥� from establishing an army to rendering 鈥渏ustice,鈥� including through execution.
Obama appeared to want to counter this claim of legitimacy 鈥� and whatever attraction the message might have for vulnerable Muslims 鈥� in the statement he delivered from his Martha鈥檚 Vineyard vacation Wednesday afternoon.
After saying the world is 鈥渁ppalled鈥� by Mr. Foley鈥檚 murder and noting that he personally expressed to the journalist鈥檚 family how 鈥渉eartbroken鈥� the nation is, Obama went on to describe the 鈥渟tark contrast鈥� between IS and what he called the 鈥渃ivilized" world.
鈥淟et鈥檚 be clear about ISIL,鈥� he said, using the administration鈥檚 preferred acronym for the group, the organization鈥檚 鈥渆mpty vision鈥� has 鈥渘o place in the 21st聽century.鈥�
Declaring the group has 鈥渘o ideology of any value to human beings,鈥� Obama also said IS 鈥渟peaks for no religion鈥� as he noted that 鈥渢heir victims are overwhelmingly Muslim.鈥� But he appeared to allude to the fact that the extremist group did receive assistance from some Sunni Arab countries when he listed 鈥済overnments and people across the Middle East鈥� among IS鈥檚 victims, and said that there 鈥渉as to be clear rejection of these kinds of nihilistic ideologies.鈥�
Just the fact that by their action IS elicited a swift and stern statement from the president of the United States could be conjured by the group as a sort of victory, some experts say.
鈥淥f course [Obama] had to say something about this terrible act, but you get caught in a trap where anything you say about it can serve their purposes because it can make them seem powerful,鈥� says Martha Crenshaw, an international terrorism expert at Stanford University鈥檚 Center for International Security and Cooperation in Palo Alto, Calif.
Dr. Crenshaw, who has studied IS鈥檚 evolution from its roots as Al Qaeda in Iraq in the early days of the American invasion of Iraq, says the group [while still AQI] did for a time stop its tactic of widely disseminating beheadings and other extreme violence, and she鈥檚 unsure why the group recommenced with the Foley execution.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite plausible they really thought it would frighten Americans, although I think it鈥檚 more likely to anger than to frighten,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t may also be something as simple as a reaction to the setbacks they鈥檝e experienced鈥� at the hands of the US, she adds, 鈥淚t might simply be an act of retaliation.鈥�
GWU鈥檚 Dr. Post agrees, finding that, 鈥淏eneath the bravado, there鈥檚 a certain amount of desperation, too.鈥�
But Crenshaw, who is one of the organizers of Stanford鈥檚 鈥淢apping Militant Organizations鈥� website, notes that perhaps a quarter of IS鈥檚 estimated 12,000 militants are from Western countries, and as a result she says the Foley video has to be seen as a potential recruitment tool. 聽聽聽聽
鈥淚 do think we have to consider this as some sort of recruitment video, even though it鈥檚 hard for us to fathom the appeal,鈥� she says. Having the message delivered by a fighter with a British accent has the potential to tell other European Muslims, 鈥淚鈥檓 showing the world how tough I am, and you can be tough, too,鈥� she says.
Clearly to someone鈥檚 thinking 鈥渢his [beheading] was some sort of implementation of justice,鈥� Crenshaw says. Noting that IS militants hold captive other journalists besides Mr. Sotloff and aid workers, she says, 鈥淪adly, I suppose we can expect more of it.鈥�