September 3, 2014

They Are All Dead Already! ISIS Staging Beheading Video Releases Timed For Effect

By Susan Duclos - Op-ed


As many already know, a second beheading video was released by the terror group ISIS with the second victim having to read a statement before having his throat cut, but with the claim from ISIS factions that this video was released prematurely "by accident,", and ample evidence that the "beheadings" were staged and the victims were already dead beforehand, we can draw some conclusions that the families of those still held captive may not want to believe, but the dots connect.

They are all dead already.... these videos are being released as a mindgame, psychological warfare, and calls for "ransom" to prevent further beheadings is nothing more than part of their macabre game.

First we have experts that say the beheading video of James Foley, the first American photojournalist, was "staged," and that while there is no doubt he was beheaded, that was not the cause of death, he was killed beforehand.... the "when" is not known.

Though there was no doubt that Foley was beheaded, it was possible the jihadists killed Foley off camera and staged the video to make it look like an execution, an expert told the Times of London.  "I think it has been staged," the visual forensics expert, who was not identified, told The Times after scrutinizing the four-minute, 40-second film.

On Tuesday, September 2, 2014, the second beheading video was released, with the victim, U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, forced to make a statement before his death. The statement was "I’m sure you know exactly who I am by now and why I am appearing. Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for preservation of American lives and interests, so why is it that I am paying the price of your interference with my life?"

Then the man now dubbed Jihadi John taunts Barack Obama with his own statement "I’m back Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic state, because of your insistence on continuing your bombings and … on Mosul Dam, despite our serious warnings. You Obama, have but to gain from your actions but another American citizen. So just as your missiles continue to strike out 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"

Footage of a British  hostage, David Cawthorne Haines, was shown in the same kneeling position as Foley and Sotloff were prior to their executions with the claim that he would be next.

Secondly, we have reports that the second "message to America," was accidentally released early by a leak within ISIS circles:

It appears from chatter on ISIS forums that the initial video release was an unintentional leak from within ISIS circles. An ISIS-affiliated twitter account (now suspended) published the video ahead of the prescribed time. Another ISIS-affiliated account, @Khattabyaz pulled them up on their error, but at that point it was too late, and the video was in circulation. The group then apologised to its followers for the lack of discipline in a text missive on Justpaste, saying: “A clarification about the mistake was made by “Uyun al-Ummah” account, that has published the video before the official time. The user saw a tweet with the video and thought it was published officially. We tried to remove the video after we understood that his was published by mistake, and we are sorry to the followers of the Islamic State.”


What this information tells us is that despite what dates these videos are being released, they are definitely being timed for effect and the victims are dead well before the actual releases of these videos and statements, meaning any ransom demands are all for show.  Any attempt by ISIS to claim that someone, anyone, could have done anything to prevent these deaths are nothing but outright lies.

The first video below shows Sotloff's statement as well as that of Jihadi John and Haines kneeling, but is not graphic nor does it show the beheading nor the aftermath. The following videos are news reports on these brutal executions.