Barrack Obama
Barrack Obama the president of the United States has announced that America will not be shaken by the release of the video that showed the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff. He stated that the U.S.'s new goal is to "degrade and destroy" the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
"Our objective is clear. That is to degrade and destroy (ISIS) so it's no longer a threat," Obama stated through CNN. "We can accomplish that. It's going to take some time, it's going to take some effort."
Only two weeks after the death of James Foley, ISIS released a second video through CNN that showed the beheading of Steven Sotloff, another American journalist. The executioner who spoke in a British accent stated in the footage, "I'm back, Obama, and I'm back because of your arrogant foreign policy toward the Islamic State. Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."
ISIS, while waging war against the governments of Iraq and Syria as well as the Kurdish forces has warned the U.S. to stay out of the region and to not interfere. They noted that the killings of the two journalists were acts of retaliation against the recent American airstrikes.
Leaders from all over the world including British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed outrage at the video footage. He condemned ISIS and the ones who filmed the video as "utterly abhorrent and barbaric".
However many experts have expressed that the American airstrikes have greatly deterred the Islamic State's plans in the Iraq-Syria area. It is reported that in every airstrike, ISIS has lost a considerable amount of artillery, personnel carriers and other kinds of heavy weaponry. "Unable to hit back militarily against America's jets, Islamic State has responded with a form of information warfare that it knows will horrify most people in the West," said BBC security correspondent.
Meanwhile violence continues in Iraq with ISIS killing civilians and persecuting Christians and other religious, ethnic minorities.
