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US Defence Secretary says Islamic State "beyond just a terrorist group"

The US Defence Secretary says the threat posed by the Islamic State is beyond anything America ha...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.35 22 Aug 2014


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US Defence Secretary says Isla...

US Defence Secretary says Islamic State "beyond just a terrorist group"

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.35 22 Aug 2014


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The US Defence Secretary says the threat posed by the Islamic State is beyond anything America has ever faced before.

Chuck Hagel's comments come after the militants posted a video online of them beheading the American journalist James Foley.

America's Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation into his death.

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Mr Hagel said IS is "beyond just a terrorist group". He added that "they marry ideology, a sophistication of … military prowess."

Airstrikes in Syria - where Mr Foley disappeared in November 2012 - have not been ruled out. When asked about that possibility, Mr Hagel said Washington was "exploring all options".

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also did not discount attacks on IS fighters in Syria.

"This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated," he said at a briefing.

"To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organisation which resides in Syria? The answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border."

IS, which was formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, declared an Islamic state, or caliphate, covering large parts of the two countries earlier this year.

Final email

Meanwhile, details have emerged of the last email members of James Foley's family received from his captors before the video of his death was released.

In the email, received by the family on August 12th, the Islamic State militant group said: "You do not spare our weak, elderly, women or children so we will not spare yours!

"You and your citizens will pay the price of your bombings! The first of which being the blood of the American citizen, James Foley!

"He will be executed as a direct result of your transgressions towards us!"

In the message, IS claimed it had given the US "many chances to negotiate the release of your people via cash transactions as other governments have accepted".

However, Mr Foley's family said this was not true.

They say the first message they received from his captors was in November 2013, more than a year after he went missing in Syria.


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