This video showed the beheading of an American journalist by the name of James Foley. This video was from ISIS, in protest and in rage against the airstrikes of Iraq. ISIS was trying to prove a point and titled this video, “A Message to America.”

James Foley was a freelance journalist and photojournalist, and was held captive for the first time in Libya, the spring of 2011 for a total of 44 days. While Foley was held captive in Libya, he was working for the Global Post. The Global Post spent several thousands of dollars to find him, and then they succeeded in making Libya release him in May 2011. Foley was then kidnapped for a second time in Syria, on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, 2012 and was held captive for over 600 days. Foley was working as a contributor for Agence France-Presse, where he contributed videos. 

For the second capture of James Foley, a “Find James Foley” campaign was started to bring him back home to New Hampshire. According to the Associated Press, he was a freelancer working in conflict zones around the Middle East, including Syria, Libya, and Iraq. 

During May 2013, the Global Post reported, “It believe[d] the Syrian government is holding [Foley] in a detention center near Damscus,” a determination reached after “a five-month investigation inside Syria and the wider Middle East.” 

The National Security Council spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden addressed in a statement: “We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIL. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist,” Hayden said. 

The video from the ISIS, was posted to "Youtube," and the authenticity was verified. Two weeks ago, when America started airstrikes against the terrorist group that was fanning out across Iraq, the jihadists had gone to social media to call for attacks on the American interests. In the three hours after the video of Foley’s beheading was uploaded onto Youtube, Jihadists used the hashtag #NewMessageFromISIStoUS went over 2,000 tweets according to a survey by SITE. Many fighters have been gloating over his death and called it just retribution for the air raids. 

ISIS concluded their video with the fighter threatening to take another life of another American Freelance Journalist, Steven Joel Sotloff. He was being held captive along with Foley from the ISIS. As quoted from the fighter in the video, “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.” 

Since the fighter threatened Steven Sotloff, a petition from the White house has gone viral asking for his freedom. This petition will end on Sep. 18th, 2014 and needs 100,000 signatures. It currently has around 2,000 signatures. If you can please take the time to sign this petition you will help save an innocent man’s life.  

Speaking from an inside source about the captivity of Steven Sotloff, it was said that the family was instructed by the FBI to not release this information to the public. For about seven months, there was zero communication and they had a feeling that he was taken by Al-Qaeda. There was speculation from journalist friends that he had been kidnapped, but they didn't know for sure. For those seven months, they didn't know the truth or even know who might have taken him captive. 

His family received a ransom note requesting hundreds of millions of dollars or the release of all of their prisoners. It is clear that America does not barter with terrorists and will not budge. The ransom letter also stated not to go public because there was more of a chance of America playing by their rules. In the following weeks proceeding the first ransom letter, a second ransom letter was then received from the terrorists, proving the existence of Steven, and that he is indeed alive. 

The second ransom letter was smuggled out with prisoners whom France and joint countries paid to have released. James Foley, his friend who was indeed captured with Steve was beheaded yesterday. ISIS is holding Steve captive still, and states that he is next in line to be killed unless Obama stops interfering with Iraq. We also have word that there are other prisoners who are not public yet, including another American. Not all prisoners are reporters and journalists, some are actually people who were captured from humanitarian missions to help out Syria when President Assad was gassing his own people. 

For the longest time they didn't know if Steven was held in isolation or with the other prisoners. Then, one of the released prisoners flew from his home in Europe, to America to talk about the living situation. It is confirmed that the males and females were segregated during captivity, and there were numerous amounts of males released after meeting the money demands, but there are still quite a few that remain in captivity. It is imperative that Steven be brought back to American, and be reunited with his beloved family. Please do all that you can to raise awareness of this important issue going on in our world today. 

Here is the link to the petition, please do your part, and spread the word and sign the document. Make a significant difference in this world, and free Steven and prevent his life from being taken. If you would like to sign the petition, the link is: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/do-every...  

To see the leaked footage of James Foley being beheaded, the footage can be found at: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bc1_1408481278 The content in this video is quite graphic so please be mindful, and proceed with your own intentions.