Video Purports To Show Beheading Of U.S. Journalist

NPR | By The Associated Press

Published September 2, 2014 at 2:06 PM EDT

American journalist Steven Sotloff (center, with black helmet) talks to Libyan rebels on the Al Dafniya front line on June 02, 2011, in Misrata, Libya. Sotloff was kidnapped in August 2013 near Aleppo, Syria and was recently shown on a jihadist video in which fellow U.S. journalist James Foley was executed. In the video the militant group the Islamic State threatened to kill Sotloff next if the U.S. continues its aerial campaign against the insurgency. (Etienne de Malglaive via Getty Images)

An Internet video purports to show the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group.

Sotloff, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, had last been seen in Syrian in August 2013 until he appeared in a video released online last month by the Islamic State group that showed the beheading of fellow American journalist James Foley.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against the backdrop of an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the group in Iraq.

In the video distributed Tuesday and entitled “A Second Message to America,” Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is beheaded by an Islamic State fighter.

Jim Walsh, an expert in international security at MIT’s Security Studies Program, joins Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss these developments.

Guest

Jim Walsh, expert in international security at MIT’s Security Studies Program. He tweets @DrJimWalshMIT.