Politics
Eric Holder says ISIS will be held accountable
Attorney General Eric Holder took the time on Thursday to issue a threat to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Holder vowed to hold the killers of American journalist James Foley accountable for their repugnant actions.
“Those who would perpetrate such acts need to understand something. This Justice Department, this Department of Defense, this nation- we have long memories and our reach is very wide. We will not forget what happened, and people will be held accountable, one way or another,” said Holder at a press conference announcing a new settlement with Bank of America.
Holder said that the Justice Department has begun an “open criminal investigation” into the murder of Foley and went on to say that the department will “vigorously” conduct it.
Holder commended Foley’s work as a photojournalist as a “symbol of what’s right about the United States” and said that his “heart goes out to” Foley’s parents. Foley’s parents have shown considerable composure in the wake of their son’s brutal and barbaric murder.
“Foley went missing in Syria two years ago. ISIS circulated a video of his beheading Tuesday that U.S. authorities have confirmed as authentic. The Obama administration announced Wednesday night that U.S. special operators tried to rescue him earlier this summer but failed because he and other hostages were not located where intelligence officials believed them to be,” reports the Washington Examiner.
Foley was beheaded by members of ISIS in retaliation for the United States’ use of airstrikes to help Kurdish and Iraqi forces defeat the Islamic extremist group.
The man in the video who executed Foley spoke with what appears to be a British accent. The executioner then held up another man, believed to be U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, and threatened to kill him if the airstrikes continue.
On August 12th, one week before the murder of James Foley, his family was sent a threatening email criticizing the U.S. government.
“You and your citizens will pay the price of your bombings! The first of which being the blood of the American citizen, James Foley! He will be executed as a DIRECT result of your transgressions towards us!” reads the disturbing email.
Following the brutal killing of Foley, President Obama called ISIS a “cancer” that senselessly kills people.
ISIS’ mere existence poses a direct threat to the safety of everyday Americans, as the group has the stated aim of shedding the blood of the “weak, elderly, women or children.”
