The “Warning To America” was meant to strike fear into the United States, but instead if could lead to a world war against the terrorist organization ISIS that has taken over large portions of Iraq and Syria.
On Tuesday, the militant organization released a video that appeared to show the beheading of American journalist James Foley . In the video, titled “Warning To America,” a masked ISIS militant with a British accent read a statement against the United States and President Obama, promising “bloodshed” if America keeps up strikes against ISIS .
In “Warning To America,’ the unidentified man said:
This is James Wright Foley, an American citizen of your country. As a government, you have been at the forefront of the aggression towards the Islamic State. You have plotted against us and have gone far out of your way to find reasons to interfere in our affairs. Today, your military air force is attacking us daily in Iraq, your strikes have caused casualties among Muslims. You’re no longer fighting an insurgency, we are an Islamic army, and a state that has been accepted by large number of Muslims worldwide, so effectively, any aggression towards the Islamic State, is aggression towards Muslims from all walks of life who has accepted the Islamic caliphate as their leadership, so any attempt by you Obama to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.
Foley himself read what appeared to be a forced statement in which he denounced the United States and his own brother, a member of the United States Air Force.
Foley said:
I call on my brother John, who is a member of the US Air Force. Think about what you are doing, think about the lives you destroy, including those of your own family. I call on you John, think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been. Think John, who did they really kill? And did they think about me, you, our family when they made that decision?
I died that day John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people they signed my death certificate. I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again. But that ship has sailed. I guess all in all I wish I wasn’t American.
While “Warning To America” appeared to be an attempt to frighten the United States away from conflict, many believe that ISIS is trying to provoke a wider conflict that will be expensive both in terms of money and American lives. Al Qaeda used this same formula in the 9/11 attacks, drawing the United States into costly conflicts that ultimately left the terrorist group in shambles.
But “Warning To Americ a” could have dire consequences for ISIS. Obama has vowed to keep up the heat against ISIS .
“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people,” Obama said. “We will be vigilant and we will be relentless.”
Some even believe that ISIS could spark a world war in the region, as nearly every organization and state in the region has come to denounce the group’s brutal tactics. Obama has even called on countries in the Middle East to come together and “extricate the cancer” that is ISIS.