credit: Michael Ramirez
It has been widely reported that the Current Occupant once characterized ISIS as the "junior varsity" of terror. He probably regrets that call as much as his infamous "Red line" phrase in regard to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. With the help of American airpower and probably American 'advisors' fighting on the ground, the Kurdish army succeeded in recapturing the dam complex in Northern Iraq taken by ISIS fighters a week ago. Less reassuring news was the beheading of an American journalist, James Foley by ISIS fighters in central Syria. That is 12th century league bloodletting in anybody's book. The jihadists reportedly demanded a ransom of $132m. Foley's employer, GlobalPost, was willing to consider $5m Euros ($6.6m) and never took seriously the only money demand made by the bloodthirsty extremists. Foley had been held since November 22, 2012 before being executed in retaliation, according to the militants, for US airstrikes against ISIS in northern Iraq. Reportedly they also demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, formerly a neuroscientist at MIT, who is serving an 86 year sentence in Texas for planning a terror attack in exchange for Foley. A French journalist held captive with Foley told the press that the American was singled out by his captors for cruel treatment when they discovered he had a brother in the US Air Force. Incredibly, it was the second and last time the reporter was taken captive. He had been kidnapped in Libya and released. A commando attempt to rescue Foley failed. An estimated twenty journalists are believed to be held captive by ISIS in Syria.
Whether Foley's medieval murder will be enough to jockey the CO into deeper military action in Iraq will be known shortly. He has after all, made disengagement in Iraq and Afghanistan a central piece of his foreign policy. Washington reactionaries cynically characterize his policy as throwing in the towel; never mind that the misguided US effort in Iraq was doomed from the start. Baghdad Shiites would be delighted with the United States defending their interests now that they face an existential threat from the "junior varsity" of terror. Already the Baghdad government has expressed willingness to allow US air forces to use bases America built during the occupation to attack ISIS. Undoubtably Foley's gruesome death is a jihadist provocation intended to bring Americans back to Iraq. Big of them, is it NOT?
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