What should be done about Steven Sotloff?

[oberliner]

For those who are not aware, he is another US journalist being held by ISIS whom they are threatening to kill next.

Apparently one of the men behind the Foley killing was quoted as saying, in regard to Sotloff:

“The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.”

What steps, if any, do you think the Obama administration ought to take to secure his release?

[JaneyVee]

1. They already tried saving Foley unsuccessfully.

Unfortunately, I don't think his whereabouts are even known.

[femmocrat]

2. Pay the ransom (if there is one).

Last edited Thu Aug 21, 2014, 08:47 PM - Edit history (1)

It doesn't have to come from the government. Some uber-patriotic billionaire could put up the the money so the US doesn't appear to be negotiating with terrorists.

[Hooked_n_Looped]

14. I thought I saw that it was something like $100,000,000...

Not the best precedent to set...

[LiberalArkie]

28. 100 million Euro's 134 million dollars

[femmocrat]

38. Foley's former boss was on CNN tonight and said that they were raising the ransom money.

He said that some European countries had paid ransoms to rescue their journalists and he figured the kidnappers would take $5 million, based on those prior amounts of
$3-4 million (Euros).

He also said that the bombings pretty much signed Foley's death warrant before they could raise all the money.

After watching him, I think there are ways to do it that do not involve the US government.

Sorry, I do not remember the man's name, but I saw him on the Erin Burnett show.

[YarnAddict]

22. Well,

then I guess that would put all other Americans traveling abroad at much greater risk.

[oberliner]

30. So what do you think should be done?

Is there a way to save this man's life without putting others at risk?

[elehhhhna]

31. no

[YarnAddict]

32. Unfortunately,

no, I don't think there is a way.

[LiberalArkie]

40. No, 100 million euro's buy a lot of weapons, a lot of vehicles.

You tell me what paying 2 ransoms of 100 million a piece would buy in the way of weapons.

[NightWatcher]

3. He was the journalist kidnapped while on assignment in Tampa, Fl right?

Or was he over in Syria of his own accord while we were providing support to a terrorist group that was trying to overthrow the dictator?


From the State Department: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/syria-travel-warning.html

The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens against travel to Syria and strongly recommends that U.S. citizens remaining in Syria depart immediately. This Travel Warning supersedes the Travel Warning dated October 7, 2013, to remind U.S. citizens that the security situation remains volatile and unpredictable as a civil war between government and armed anti-government groups continues throughout the country, along with an increased risk of kidnappings, bombings, murder, and terrorism.

No part of Syria should be considered safe from violence, and the potential exists throughout the country for hostile acts, including kidnappings and the use of chemical warfare against civilian populations

[BaggersRDumb]

6. Do you want journalists to go to dangerous places and report the facts?

If so I say we have their backs if we can

[NightWatcher]

13. Good point.

Most places will respect the media, even if they are from the country that is bombing the shit out of them.

How far do you think we should go for the journalists? Send in troops to fight or drones?

[BaggersRDumb]

18. I dont know, ISIL is so unusally barbaric it is a problem to ponder

I hate drones for the reason that when you take risk out of killing others, you will kill more than necessary...

[Maedhros]

21. I don't think ISIL is any more barbarous than the U.S. military.

Lower tech, sure. But dropping Hellfire missiles on weddings and funerals is every bit as barbaric as beheading a journalist.

[BaggersRDumb]

24. It matters who the CIC is, and I am upset at Obama for using drones but I would rather

have him now than McCain, we would be at war everywhere if we had McCain.

Surely the USA military and government over the past 40 yrs could be seen as "The Empire" like in Star Wars, or the bad guys.

Only Americans see us in the filtered way we see us, everybody else see us for who we are.

And who we are is sometimes good, sometimes bad.

[Maedhros]

42. Killing civilians with missiles is unacceptable regardless of who is in the White House. [n/t]

[oberliner]

27. Can you honestly believe this?

Quite a comment.

[Maedhros]

41. Have you seen what Hellfire missiles do to people?

They are fired at congregations of civilians, one of whom might be affiliated with someone who might be a "terrorist," and end up obliterating a dozen human beings, give or take. Then, when help shows up to try and treat the injured and dying, we fire another missile at the responders. How is that any better than what ISIL is doing?

Because we're the "good guys?"

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. He's a dead man. Nothing to do about it except snuff ISIS.

[840high]

5. Yep. Even if

ransom is paid - they'll kill him.

[philosslayer]

15. Actually they have a history of letting other hostages go

once ransom has been paid.

[handmade34]

17. and the ransom paid

further increases their power and even more people are killed.. no easy answers

[hardcover]

25. Yup

[Control-Z]

7. I'm hoping that intelligence about

his whereabouts may have improved with this latest horrifying execution. I hope they find him and bring him home. I imagine everything possible is being done in this regard.

[oberliner]

12. I hope so too

Though I am sadly not very optimistic about it.

[bluestateguy]

8. I don't know the answer to that

But I would not say "nothing". I would remind folks, though, that there is more than just one life at stake here.

[oberliner]

10. Do you think anything is going on behind the scenes?

Along the lines of the attempted earlier rescue mission maybe?

[Chan790]

36. Think, I can be pretty sure.

I have friends from college that went on to be analysts for alphabet-soup intelligence agencies. Every tape, every video, like this released is gone through frame by frame. Is there a rock or a geographical feature that we can pinpoint, is there a distinctive tree, does that fly that flew by or that flower in the background only live in one valley? Are there any distinctive noises? Train whistles? Running water? Can we hear a muezzin? How tall are the people? Which directions are the shadows? Is the sun low in the sky? (Those may seem esoteric but those three things can geoposition a person or event to within about 100ft² on the face of the Earth if you know the date and time.) Is there EXIF data on the file. (That tells us date/time and even sometimes GPS coordinates.)

It may not seem like much and gruesome, but there is some person at Langley who has probably done nothing but watch Foley get beheaded 1000 times, frame-by-frame, pixel-by-pixel, looking for clues that could save Sotloff since 5 minutes after the video was posted.

There is probably more than that even going on, but there is at-least that much.

[VanGoghRocks]

9. Put Bush and Cheney on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. That might be

just the kind of game-changer\ice breaker to move humanity, ahem, forward rather than backward. OTOH, if one is always looking 'forward' rather than 'backward' . . .

Oh, yeah, don't forget to include the entire Bush Junta in that bill of indictment, including John Yoo, Ricardo Sanchez, the whole kit-n-cabal.

[oberliner]

11. And that would help save Sotloff?

Or is that just a lost cause?

[VanGoghRocks]

16. It might re-set the frame, especially if coupled with true repentance and humility, and

cause the hostage holders to reconsider their hard-line position. It needs to be done anyway for the sake of humanity so think of it as a two-fer.

[hardcover]

29. And that will stop ISIS from killing Kurds and Shiites

and anybody else who won't swear allegiance to them?

[840high]

35. Has nothing to do with topic.

[Boom Sound 416]

19. Do we (the public) even know their demands

I imagine it something like, 'get out of the holy land'

But who knows?

[oberliner]

20. 100 million dollars is what I've read

Pay the ransom and they will free him they claim.

[Boom Sound 416]

23. I don't envy those who have to make that decision.

[hardcover]

33. Nope, their goal is to establish a caliphate

Here, this should help you out

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/10/5884593/9-questions-about-the-caliphate-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask
9 questions about the ISIS Caliphate you were too embarrassed to ask

[Boom Sound 416]

34. Thanks.

How will holding Americans achieve that?

[Throd]

26. I don't think anything can be done.

[Rex]

37. I would do something risky.

ISIS loves to offend humanity. Since they are videotaping all these, who knows what is going on...I wouldn't trust them period. Don't ask what I would do...it is not humane and would involve others risking their lives.

[etherealtruth]

39. Sadly, I do not think anything can be done

[oberliner]

43. And sadly, it appears he has been beheaded as well

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-09-02/steven-sotloff-another-american-appears-be-latest-victim-islamic-state-militants

[etherealtruth]

44. It is so horrific ....

...believe me, I do not think this is "OK" .... I am horrified and revolted. My position has nothing to do with "the US doesn't negotiate" ... it has to do with endangering other's by making hostage holding an effective tool.