US renews airstrikes amid decry of journalist beheading
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E-mail CRI, August 21, 2014
The United States has launched a new barrage of airstrikes against Islamic State extremists and is weighing sending more troops to Iraq as world leaders condemn the killing of American journalist James Foley by the militants.
It comes after Islamic State, which has been marching through northern Iraq, released a video purported to show the beheading of Foley with threats to kill another American in retaliation against the recent U.S. intervention in Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling the beheading of the American journalist "an abominable crime."
US President Barack Obama is comparing the IS to a "cancer", saying its ideology is "bankrupt".
Obama is also pledging to do more to fight the extremist group.
"The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless. When people harm Americans anywhere, we do what's necessary to see that justice is done."
US forces have carried out over 90 air strikes on the IS group that has captured a large swathe of northern Iraq in recent weeks.
The 40-year-old journalist has reported across the Middle East, working for US publication GlobalPost and other media outlets including French news agency AFP.
His father John says he is appalled by how his son died.
"It's horrific. I mean people can die in lots of different ways but this way was the most horrific and it haunts me how much pain he was in and how cruel this manner of execution is as opposed to so many others, so it testifies to his courage.
Foley is shown next to a masked man with a British accent in the video titled A Message to America.
British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is shocked that it seems likely a British citizen is involved in the killing.
Meantime in Iraq, an UN-charted plane carrying 100 tons of tents and cooking equipment has arrived in Irbil.
The UN says it is its largest aid operation for a decade as it is trying to reach half a million people. More than a million people across Iraq have been forced from their homes during the recent violence in the country.
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