The beheading of two American journalists has many people questioning what the U.S. should do in reaction to the broadcast killings, if anything at all.
In the last two months, the U.S. lost two journalists to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorist organization, ISIS. The masked rebels shown in the videos demanded President Obama cease drone strikes in Syria or face more American assassinations by their hand. The ongoing question of whether to barter with terrorists, is being debated worldwide.
James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the two journalists killed by ISIS, understood the conditions they stepped into as soon as they landed in Syria to report. Foley, 40 of New Hampshire, was a freelance-reporter in Baghdad for development projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. He became a military-embedded journalist for troops on assignment in Afghanistan and reported in Libya.
Sotloff, 31 of Florida, wrote for Time magazine in Libya, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Benghazi as well as freelanced overseas to write for Media Line, World Affairs, The National Interest and Foreign Policy. Reporting in unsafe environments is sometimes a job requirement of an investigative journalist. Both of these men were aware of their reporting environments.
However this does not mean they asked for or deserved what happened to them. ISIS has reintroduced brute torture against the U.S., a problem we have not dealt with since 2002 when American journalist Daniel Pearl was beheaded in Pakistan. ISIS tactics resemble past Middle-Eastern terrorism aimed at the U.S. It is a quick way to make some of the most powerful people in the country sweat. A cursive letter addressed to President Obama asking for the recoil of drones wouldn’t twist his wrist quite like beheading someone. The U.S. has acted like the police of the world since World War II. Our government has stuck their nose in situations out of our control because they felt it was our moral obligation, such as Vietnam or Iraq. The danger in Syria is one of these cases.
Though we have new weapons and strategies, we are not the same country we were during the 40s and neither are our allies and enemies. Bargaining with ISIS members is not reliable. Even if a deal is struck, it is unclear whether it will be fulfilled because of ISIS’s erratic behavior.
No one could have predicted the fate of Foley and Sotloff. Their occupation landed them in a vicious environment where, by some Syrian civilians, they were considered the enemy. There was little the U.S. government could have done to diffuse the situation without bartering with ISIS members. Becoming more involved with terrorist groups is not the direction the U.S. needs to pursue. However, we do feel the need to know what is going on overseas. Unfortunately, by gaining knowledge from journalists overseas, we may sacrifice people in the process.
Allie Baker can be contacted at abaker@keene-equinox.com
