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September 3, 2014

Islamic State Beheads 2nd U.S. Journalist in New Video 
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The militant group Islamic State has released a video which appears to
show the second beheading of a U.S. journalist in as many weeks. Steven
Sotloff is seen wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by
foreign prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. He kneels in the same position as
ISIL's previous victim, James Foley. As a masked person stands over him
with a knife, Sotloff speaks directly to the camera and recites what
appears to be a coerced statement about "paying the price" for U.S.
airstrikes against the group. The man with a knife also issues a warning
that ISIL will continue to kill Americans if the strikes continue.

Unidentified: "I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant
foreign policy towards Islamic State, because of your insistence at
continuing your bombings in Amerli, Zumar and the Mosul Dam, despite our
serious warnings. You, Obama, have yet again, through your actions,
killed yet another American citizen. So just as your missiles continue
to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of
your people."

Sotloff was kidnapped about a year ago in Syria while working as a
freelance journalist. On Tuesday, filmmaker Matthew Van Dyke, a friend
of Sotloff's, said he was dedicated to reporting on the Middle East.

Matthew Van Dyke: "He had a love for the region. He took time to
understand the region, to understand people, to make friends and
contacts there, to learn the language, to drink the tea. He was somebody
that was really, really set on doing things that way and really getting
— it allowed him to get stories. I mean, his story on the Benghazi
attack was one of the first comprehensive investigations where he talked
to witnesses and sort of began to unravel the truth of what had really
happened there."

 

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