Obama Says Beheading Videos Won't Intimidate US

[rangerrebew]

- The PJ Tatler - http://pjmedia.com/tatler -



White House Says It ‘Dedicated Significant Time and Resources’ to Rescue Sotloff

Posted By Bridget Johnson On September 2, 2014 @ 11:16 am In Middle East,Politics,Terrorism | 19 Comments


The news of the beheading video of Steve Sotloff broke as White House press secretary Josh Earnest was delivering the daily briefing.

“I’ve not seen those reports today. I think that may have just happened in the last few minutes while I’ve been standing up here,” Earnest told reporters. “This is something that the — that the administration has obviously been watching very carefully, since this threat against Mr. Sotloff’s life was originally made a few weeks ago.”

Miami native Sotloff, 31, had written for TIME magazine, Foreign Policy, the Christian Science Monitor, The Diplomat and more when he disappeared Aug. 4, 2013, near the Turkish border.

After photojournalist James Foley was beheaded on camera in a video released by ISIS on Aug. 19, his executioner reappeared on camera holding Sotloff by the back of his orange shirt.

A few days ago, ISIS backers tweeted that a video showing Sotloff’s death would be coming soon.

“Our thoughts and prayers, first and foremost, are with Mr. Sotloff and Mr. Sotloff’s family and those who worked with him,” Earnest said.

“The United States, as you know, has dedicated significant time and resources to trying and rescue Mr. Sotloff. We’ve — I’m not in a position to confirm the authenticity of that video or the reports at this point, obviously, since I just walked out here,” he added.

“But this is — if there is a video that has been released, it is something that will be analyzed very carefully by the U.S. government and our intelligence officials to determine its authenticity.”

The video features what appears to be the same executioner who killed Foley, with a London accent.

“I’m back, Obama,” the killer taunts. “And I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy toward the Islamic State, because of your insistence on continuing your bombings.”

“So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people. We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone.”

At the State Department briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said, “We’ve seen reports of a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen Steven Sotloff by ISIL. The intelligence community will work as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity.”

“If the video is genuine, we are sickened by this brutal act taking the life of another innocent American citizen,” Psaki added. “Our hearts go out to the Sotloff family and we will provide more information as it becomes available.”

When asked what the government’s last information was on Sotloff, she replied, “I just don’t have any other additional information to provide. Certainly understand the interest.”

Last week, Sotloff’s mom appealed directly to self-proclaimed caliph  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video carried by Al-Arabiya.

“My son Steven is in your hands,” Shirley Sotloff said. ”Steven is a journalist who traveled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hand of tyrants. Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother, and grandson. He’s an honorable man and has always tried to help the weak. We have not seen Steven for over a year and we miss him very much. We want to see him home safe and sound and to hug him.”

“Steven has no control over the actions of the U.S. government. He’s an innocent journalist,” she said.
“I’ve always learned that you, the Caliph, can grant amnesty. I ask you to please release my child.”


Article printed from The PJ Tatler: http://pjmedia.com/tatler

URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/09/02/white-house-says-it-dedicated-significant-time-and-resources-to-rescue-sotloff/

[mystery-ak]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/03/Obama-Reacts-to-Second-Beheading-Video-Released-By-ISIS-They-Have-Already-Failed

 by Charlie Spiering 3 Sep 2014, 5:11 AM PDT

President Obama confirmed that the beheading video of American journalist Steven Sotloff was authentic during a press conference in Estonia and offered his condolences to the family.

Obama added that the prayers of the American people were with the family of Sotloff and that he was “appalled by the news,” calling it a “horrific act of violence.”

The Islamic State terrorists that killed Sotloff, he insisted, had failed.

“Whatever these murderers think they’ll achieve by killing innocent Americans like Steven they have already failed,” he said, pointing out that the world was “repulsed by their barbarism.”

Americans, he added, “will not be intimidated,” adding that their evil actions “only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve.”

Obama contrasted the actions of the terrorists with the noble actions of Sotloff who dedicated his life to journalism in conflict areas.

“They make the absurd claim that they kill in the name of religion, but it was Steven, his friends say, that deeply loved the Islamic world,” he said.

Obama added that the terrorists who attacked Americans would learn that “we will not forget, and that our reach is long, and that justice will be served.”

[mystery-ak]

http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=592258


Newsmax
Obama Says Beheading Videos Won't Intimidate US
Wednesday, September 3, 2014 07:16 AM

By: JULIE PACE

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the United States will not be intimidated by Islamic State militants after the beheading of a second American journalist and will build a coalition to "degrade and destroy" the group.

Obama still did not give a timeline for deciding on a strategy to go after the extremist group's operations in Syria. "It'll take time to roll them back," the president said at a news conference during a visit to Europe.

Obama's comments came after he said the United States had verified the authenticity of a video released Tuesday showing the beheading of freelance reporter Steven Sotloff, two weeks after journalist James Foley was similarly killed.

Obama vowed the U.S. would not forget the "terrible crime against these two fine young men."

"Our reach is long and justice will be served," Obama said.

In the Sotloff video, a masked militant warns Obama that as long as U.S. airstrikes against the militant group continue, "our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."

Obama responded that he will continue to fight the militant threat and the "barbaric and ultimately empty vision" it represents.

"Our objective is to make sure that ISIL is not an ongoing threat to the region," he said, using an acronym for the militant group. "And we can accomplish that. It's going to take some time and it's going to take some effort."

Sotloff, a 31-year-old Miami-area native who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, vanished a year ago in Syria and was not seen again until he appeared in the video that showed Foley's beheading. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the Islamic State.

In the video distributed Tuesday and titled "A Second Message to America," Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is apparently beheaded by a fighter with the Islamic State, the extremist group that has conquered wide swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and declared itself a caliphate.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC Wednesday that the masked, British-accented jihadist appears to be the same person shown in the Foley footage.

In the video, the organization threatens to kill another hostage, this one identified as a British citizen, David Cawthorne Haines. It was not immediately clear who Haines was.

Last week, Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, pleaded with his captors for mercy, saying in a video that her son was "an innocent journalist" and "an honorable man" who "has always tried to help the weak."

Obama said the prayers of the American people are with the family of the "devoted and courageous journalist" who deeply loved the Islamic world and whose "life stood in stark contrast to those who murdered him so brutally."

"Whatever these murderers think they will achieve by murdering innocents like Steven, they have already failed," Obama said. "We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us."

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday that it is believed that "a few" Americans are still being held by the Islamic State. Psaki would not give any specifics, but one is a 26-year-old woman who was kidnapped while doing humanitarian aid work in Syria, according to a family representative who asked that the hostage not be identified out of fear for her safety.

[alicewonders]

Prayers for the remaining hostages.   

[mountaineer]

Obama contrasted the actions of the terrorists with the noble actions of Sotloff who dedicated his life to journalism in conflict areas.

“They make the absurd claim that they kill in the name of religion, but it was Steven, his friends say, that deeply loved the Islamic world,” he said.

No, Barry, they really are killing in the name of their murderous false religion.

Obama added that the terrorists who attacked Americans would learn that “we will not forget, and that our reach is long, and that justice will be served.”

That should really have them shaking in their boots (which we probably provided at some point).

[Millee]

Did Omomjeans show how serious he was by then attending a party or playing another 18??   

[rangerrebew]

What he really means is a few beheading won't keep him off the golf course.

[flowers]

justice will be served