An ISIS fighter points a pistol at the camera in a screen cap from the video. Reuters.
ISIS has released a new execution video starting a man with a British accent. Reuters. The video shows the deaths of five men accused of being spies for the United Kingdom. It also stars a young boy, no older then five years old. In the video the man, with a clear British accent, threatened UK Prime Minster David Cameron and claimed that ISIS would eventually take over the island nation. The video is similar to previous execution videos that stared another British citizen, Mohammad Emwazi, also known as "Jihadi John". Emwazi was killed by the United States in a drone strike last November.
My Comment:
I watched the video last night and I have to say it was disturbing. It's nothing ISIS hasn't done before, and they have pulled off much worse videos but it's still a hell of a thing to watch someone die on camera. I don't make a habit of watching these videos, after all, they are horrible, but once in awhile I will, if it is especially newsworthy. I don't think I would watch them if I wasn't writing this blog. On the other hand, I have always felt that it is important to bare witness to evil, even if it is incredibly unpleasant. I do think that everyone should watch at least a few of these videos. It's impossible to have an informed opinion on ISIS unless you see, with your own eyes, what they have done and what they are doing.
A little more background on the man in the video, based on my impressions. He definitely has a British accent, but to my untrained amateur ears, it sounded like he was speaking English as a second language. When he spoke his native language he was a bit better at speaking but it almost like his English isn't quite up to snuff. He also seemed a lot less confident and skillful as a speaker compared to Jihadi John. My guess is that he was either nervous or he did not have a great command on the English language. It also seemed like he was reading from the equivalent of a teleprompter and did not have his lines memorized. I don't think he was because his eyes did not move, but it's clear that he just isn't that good of a public speaker.
Most of the video was in Arabic (I believe, though I could be wrong) but the parts of the video in English seemed to be a rather pointed criticism of the UK government. The man called out David Cameron by name and also claimed that he was just as sad as previous UK leaders. He also said that it was pathetic that the UK was threatening ISIS with only a few planes. To be honest, I think ISIS may have a point here. It's pretty obvious that the UK isn't all that serious about attacking ISIS and what they are doing now is largely pointless. A few small airstrikes isn't going to hurt ISIS in any meaningful way.
The man also called out Barack Obama, though not directly, and said that the UK is basically the United State's lapdog and that Obama's war against ISIS has failed. Again, he might have a point. The UK joined the war in part to satisfy the United States and it's clear our campaign against ISIS has not won the war. Indeed, the fact that this video was made means that our air war has done little to end the threat. And the man also had a point about how not much has been done to rescue hostages held by ISIS. Though I do think the UK and US governments do care about hostages, there isn't a lot they can do to rescue people held by ISIS.
One of the more disturbing aspects of the video is the fact that ISIS claims to love death. Indeed, the execution claimed that ISIS loves death as much as the people of UK love life. That's nothing new because many Jihadist groups claim to love death. Even Osama Bin Laden said something similar. It's clear to me that ISIS is, for lack of a better term, a death cult. Their entire society seems to be about death. They are, after all, trying to bring about the end of the world. They have almost nothing in the way of respect for human rights. The fact that they put out what are essentially snuff films for propaganda purposes is more then enough evidence for that. I say, if they love death so much, we should arrange it for them, as fast as possible. The world may not end, but their world should and the sooner it does the better.
About the only merciful thing about this video is that small child that was involved in it did not kill anyone himself. So far that is. The end of the video, where the child is seen calling for the death of "kuffars", unbelievers, seems to be a preview for a new video, so anything is possible at this point. ISIS has a very disturbing history of using children as executioners. Some of the boys are as young as nine or ten years old... I would not put it past them to force that small child to execute someone. I can't imagine how damaging it would be for a child to be forced to kill at such a young age...
The good news is that Jihadi John proves that the people that make these videos tend to die rather quickly. He was brought to justice via drone strike and the world is a better place without him in it. I am betting that British authorities are going to find out who this new executioner is and once they have his identity his days will be numbered. Finding him will be hard though. In the video he doesn't say his name and he wears a mask, leaving just his eyes and his voice to identify him. Perhaps there is some voice print technology that can identify this man but until then he might be safe. As safe as it gets in the Islamic State that is. There is always a possibility he could just die in an airstrike that wasn't specifically targeting him.
I am guessing that this isn't the last we will see of this man though. ISIS tends to use the same people for these videos and I am thinking they want to promote this man as the next Jihadi John. Emwazi was a pseudo-celebrity for ISIS and his videos were a propaganda coup for them. When he died, it hurt their propaganda operations. This new executioner is, in my opinion, not nearly as skilled as Emwazi was, in terms of public speaking and a poor replacement. When this new man dies, the next man up will likely be even less skilled. ISIS seems to be running out of people to use in their propaganda videos. That can only be good news.
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