AFP 22 Aug 2014 – The murder of American journalist James Foley by jihadist militants in Syria was a “terrorist attack” against the United States, the White House said Friday.
“When you see somebody killed in such a horrific way, that represents a terrorist attack — that represents a terrorist attack against our country and against an American citizen,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said.
Rhodes, speaking three days after Islamic extremists released a video of Foley’s beheading, said the execution ” an attack not just him, but he’s an American, and we see that as an attack on our country when one of our own is killed like that.”
Rhodes also said that paying ransom to free hostages is “not the right policy.”
On Thursday, US defense leaders said that the IS poses a greater danger than a conventional “terrorist group” and is pursuing a vision that could radically alter the face of the Middle East.
The IS militants could be contained and eventually defeated by local forces backed by the United States, but the Sunni population in both Syria and Iraq would need to reject the group, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and General Martin Dempsey told reporters.