RIP James Foley

Oh, God, no, please no… I think that’s what I said when I read the headline today declaring that American journalist James Foley had been savagely beheaded by the demonic gang of terrorist thugs called ISIS. Frankly my brain makes up its own acronyms for ISIS, like Ignorant Savages Instigating Slaughter. I know these people need the love of Jesus, but their merciless rampage of death and destruction, which has included the beheading and crucifixion of Christian children, makes my blood boil red, white, and blue.

I first became aware that Foley was missing in Syria while writing my December 2013 post More Americans Left Behind. In that post I featured a number of Americans who were being held in other countries and strongly questioned why the Obama administration has not done more to bring them home. James Foley had been a captive for nearly two years, for example. Supposedly a rescue mission was mounted on behalf of him and other Americans this summer, but it allegedly failed because the intelligence wasn’t good.

The videotaped beheading of an American is a direct terrorist strike at our nation. It’s a strike at you and me, and I wish more Americans had the mentality of the New Yorkers in Spiderman: You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. Americans should not be at the mercy of regimes like Iran and North Korea; we don’t bow to them. We should not be tolerating the ongoing torture of Pastor Saeed Abedini or the criminal mistreatment of Kenneth Bae.

“Oh!” some say. “But they’re Christians, or Jews, or they put themselves in a dangerous situation. This is the price they pay for taking those risks.” We would all be living under a foreign language facist freak show if it wasn’t for the risk takers among us. These guys didn’t go to another nation to go skydiving or dabble in extreme wakeboarding. They traveled to these other countries to make a difference, to save lives, to soothe souls, to shine a light on the reality of the situation in these dark places.

By all accounts I’ve read, James Foley was one of these people. His parents say he went to Syria to show the world what was truly happening there. He ultimately gave his life for that. Thankfully most websites that show his execution video have edited out the part where his throat is cut and his severed head is lying on the ground. But you can still see most of it, in which he reads some sort of prefabricated statement.

His voice does not shake, he holds his head up high. His back is straight. His spirit does not appear to be broken. Knowing he’s about to have his throat slashed open by the masked coward with the British accent next to him, he doesn’t panic or scream. He faced death with courage and dignity. He didn’t have to. But he did. It is an image that will stay with me forever.

Earlier tonight I had to ask myself a question: am I more outraged that these (ooh, I’ll omit the next scathing acronym) primitive killers that Osama bin Laden didn’t even want anything to do with executed James Foley? Or am I more outraged that the United States didn’t get him back in time? How many more Americans will die because of erratic and spineless foreign policy and the fact that American tax dollars actually do go to terrorist groups and rogue nations? Who’s next? Whose family has to know that their son’s murder will be broadcast to billions of people around the world?

This shouldn’t be happening. It makes me sick. It makes me angry. One of our own has just been taken out into the desert by a group that has less morality than a fossilized amoeba. They believe their god lauds them for killing infidels, killing randomly, killing other Muslims, killing Christians, raping, and pillaging, and selling Christian women as sex slaves. It’s clear to me who their god really is, and that master will betray them when their last breath is taken.

There will be a lot of debate as to what the American and British responses should be to Foley’s murder, but first and foremost we must continue to pray. We must work harder to bring home the other Americans imprisoned in foreign countries. We must not allow Westerners fighting for groups like ISIS to return home as free citizens. We must demand that our government stop giving our money to groups and nations that pose a threat to our own people, to human rights, and to freedom.

And we must never, ever forget James Foley. For a brief moment in time, in that orange suit with the black microphone clipped to it, I saw all of us, our nation, with a knife to its throat. Because that is what ISIS would do to every one of us if they had the opportunity. These radicals would imprison us, enslave us, rape us, torture us, and brutally kill us. If you question the existence of evil, all you have to do is watch one of their videos. All you have to do is read one story about what they’re doing to women and children in Iraq.

Now is the time for our nation to unite against this evil. Now is the time for us to step up on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Iraq and other places stained by the blood that ISIS spills so freely. If we believe in freedom, and justice, and equality, and women’s rights, and human rights, we cannot sit passively by while this brave proponent of the First Amendment was forced to kneel in the devil’s playground and enter eternity at blade’s edge.

Regardless of what action you believe needs to be taken– military, sanctions, covert manhunt, prayer, financial aid to ISIS victims, or whatever else– do something. Contact your elected representatives. Make a donation. Make your voice heard. James Foley was one of us, and we’re Americans. Our forebears didn’t sit idly by when such horrors happened. Neither should we. ISIS messed with one of us. They should find out the hard way they messed with all of us.

As I go to bed tonight, I say to Jim Foley, who walked into the belly of the beast to show the world truth, I’m so sorry we didn’t come for you much sooner. I hope the last thing you thought of on this earth was how much you are loved.

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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. -Martin Luther King Jr.

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Many people question if James Foley was actually beheaded or if that’s him in the video at all. They are concerned that this death was staged in order to justify another war. This link containing videos to this effect was sent to me by a concerned citizen. Judge for yourself.

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©2014 H. Hiatt/wildninjablog.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninjablog.com.