The brother of murdered American journalist James Foley is not too happy with the Obama Administration. Michael Foley told Fox News's Megyn Kelly last night that the State Department was not only unhelpful in securing his brother's release, but that they actually stonewalled the Foley family and on at least one occasion "threatened" them when they tried to privately raise funds for a possible ransom payment.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Michael Foley's recounting here is that the family apparently concluded the best response to the State Department's threats would be to simply ignore them and raise the money anyway. Even so, he asserts that the government's actions cost them time that might have made a difference.
It does raise an interesting question, of course, whether a family's attempt to raise ransom money (supposedly ISIS had demanded $135 million) conflicts with the government's policy to the extent that the government might feel compelled to try to stop it. I don't think that's an easy black-and-white question, but look: If it was my brother or my son, I wouldn't care about the policy implications. I would try to raise the money. And if the government told me not to, I would tell them shove their threats up their asses. I suspect you would too.
I actually think it's a more damning indictment of Obama that a rescue plan was ready, but he dithered for 30 days in approving it, and by the time he did the hostages (including both Foley and Sotloff at least) had been moved. I wouldn't want the government paying ISIS a $135 million ransom, even assuming you could trust ISIS to honor its end of the deal, which you probably can't. But I do expect the government to do what it can to get those guys out of there, and if the president can't make a decision to authorize the operation because he's worried about the politics, then he should not be president.
But I guess you've heard us say that a time or two already.
Most gut-wrenching to me is Michael Foley's revelation that he actually watched the execution video, feeling that he had to for reasons I guess make sense to him. I can't imagine how he could get through something like that, but it really comes through in this interview how much Michael Foley loved his brother. It also comes through how inept and insensitive the Obama Administration is, especially John Kerry's State Department.
Can we please not elect any more self-serving clods like this?
