Experts: Foley Beheading Video Is Staged

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
August 26, 2014

In my recent article “NATO Using Foley and ISIS As A Pretext For Bombing Syria – Ultimate Target Is Russia,” I wrote about three aspects of the Foley beheading video which indicated that the video is not what it is being portrayed as to the American people.

While beheadings are by no means unbelievable or foreign to the Syrian destabilization crisis, the alleged beheading of journalist James Foley is one that should be viewed with some amount of healthy skepticism. Indeed, there are a number of anomalies associated this particular video that set it apart from the scores of other beheading videos produced by the Western-backed death squads attempting to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic caliphate across the Middle East.

A number of commentators have pointed out that James Foley seems remarkably calm and collected in the video, particularly given the fact that he knows that he is not very much longer for this world. Some may argue that Foley is calm due to fact that he knows he is going to die and has made peace with this fact, a condition that overtakes many when death is imminent. Others, however, may point to this as evidence to the contrary, i.e. that Foley knows he is not going to die and thus suggests that he is, in fact, acting in a cleverly devised propaganda video.

Second, there is the fact of a distinct lack of blood in an execution that involves the slicing of a human throat. As Syrian Free Press reports, when one slows down the video, it is evident that the knife held by the death squad fighter cuts back and forth 7-10 times. Yet there is not one drop of blood to be seen. This is highly unusual to say the least.

Third, and perhaps most damning, is the fact that the process of the actual beheading is censored. In all the videotaped beheadings that have taken place in the Syrian war since 2011, there have been none (at least as far as this writer knows) that have been censored by ISIS or any other death squad organization. Indeed, if the entire purpose of the beheading video is to create fear and outrage, then censoring the actual beheading is counterproductive. 

Bolstering my own analysis early on, professional analysts are now suggesting that the beheading video is, indeed, completely staged.

As Bill Gardner wrote for the Telegraph, forensic evidence from the film now indicates that the “British jihadist in the film may have been the frontman rather than the killer.”

Indeed, Gardner writes that a study of the 4:40 minute video clip suggest that “camera trickery and slick post-production techniques appear to have been used.”

Gardner writes,

A forensic analyst told The Times that no blood can be seen, even though the knife is drawn across the neck area at least six times. 

“After enhancements, the knife can be seen to be drawn across the upper neck at least six times, with no blood evidence to the point the picture fades to black,” the analysis said.

Sounds allegedly made by Foley do not appear consistent with what may be expected.

During Foley’s speech, there appears to be a blip which could indicate the journalist had to repeat a line.

One expert commissioned to examine the footage was reported as saying: “I think it has been staged. My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped.”

Of course, while the experts suggest that the video was faked, neither the analysts or Gardner attempt to suggest that the murder never actually occurred, suggesting instead that the murder took place after the “camera trickery” was finished.

This suggestion, however, stands against logic. If the jihadists were going to kill Foley, what could they have possibly gained by editing out the most gruesome part of the video? Even more so, why would ISIS fake the killing of Foley, then really kill him, and then only spread around the fake version of the execution? These questions are particularly pertinent since the purpose of the video would be to instill fear and terror, a task that could certainly have been accomplished easier by showing the actual beheading.

The only logical conclusion to be reached is that the video was not a product of ISIS death squads acting independently but that the video was a product of Western intelligence and clever video editing for propaganda purposes.

This video, which has been used to rattle the nerves of the American people and drum up support for yet another foreign military adventure, is set to be used to justify “targeted airstrikes” against Syria in the near future. Real or otherwise, it is hoped that the American people do not allow primitive propaganda to fool them into rushing to war yet again.

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