Just a Bit More Beheading than We Are Used To

by Douglas Murray • August 24, 2014 at 5:00 am

There has been a debate in the UK press suggesting we should hope that some of these ISIS killers come back to Britain, realize that jihad was all a phase and then head off to university for the start of the new term.

The beheading of James Foley was terrible, she stressed, "because we don't know what [his] views were."

Is there a time when even "combatants" -- or anyone else -- should be treated in this way? And who is to say who is a combatant and who not?

American journalist James Foley (left) is shown kneeling beside the British jihadist who murdered him moments later (Image source: Islamic State video)

Who is surprised? That is one question I have most wanted to know since the video was released of the murder of American journalist James Foley. The politicians keep expressing it. And interviewers have kept asking people whether they feel it. But who can honestly say that he was surprised to learn that the murderer of the American journalist turned out to be a "British" man?

Did anyone really still think that a British Islamist would not be capable of doing this? Why wouldn't he, if he is capable of doing it in Syria or Iraq? After all, it was only last year that two other Islamists beheaded one of our own soldiers – Drummer Lee Rigby – in broad daylight in London. And it is only twelve years since another Londoner – Omar Sheikh – arranged the abduction and decapitation of another American journalist, Daniel Pearl.

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