In the nearly five-minute video, titled “A Message to America,” a masked executioner is seen severing James Foley’s head with a knife in a sadistic act of revenge.The barbaric footage was posted on YouTube less than 24 hours after the marauding army of evil, also known as ISIS, vowed: “We will drown all of you in blood.”Foley, 40, of New Hampshire, a freelance reporter for the Boston-based GlobalPost, was abducted in Syria 22 months ago while covering that country’s civil war.“We have never been prouder of our son Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people,” Foley’s heartbroken mother, Diane, of Rochester, N.H., said in a statement posted on Facebook Tuesday night.“We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us,” the mother added. “He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person.”In the video, the bloodthirsty jihadist group — which invaded Iraq from Syria and now controls a large swath in the northwest part of Iraq — called out President Obama for authorizing air strikes to stop its expanion and desire for genocide.After killing the handcuffed Foley, a cloaked terrorist left the victim’s head on the small of his back. The menacing executioner, dressed head-to-toe in black, had a chilling message for Obama.Grabbing another captured U.S. journalist, Steven Sotloff, 31, of Miami, a contributor for Time magazine, the killer stared into the camera and vowed in what sounded like a British accent, “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.”Obama was briefed on the video while aboard Air Force One as he jetted from Washington to Martha’s Vineyard to resume his vacation. The President is expected make a public statement about the killing on Wednesday.The video started off with a clip from Obama’s Aug. 7 televised address in which the commander-in-chief revealed he’d authorized air strikes to stop the slaughter of tens of thousands of members of the Yazidi religious sect who were trapped on a mountain in northwest Iraq.The footage then shifted to Foley. His head was shaved and he was dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, similar to those worn by Guantanamo Bay detainees. He was kneeling to the right of his killer against the backdrop of a desert. It was not clear where the grisly video was filmed.Foley was forced to read a letter that castigated America for its involvement in helping the Iraqi Army and Kurdish fighters oppose the Islamic State’s effort to conquer all of Iraq and set up a caliphate.“I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the U.S. government,” said Foley, reading the letter. “For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality. My message to my beloved parents: Save me some dignity, and don’t accept some minor compensation for my death from the same people who effectively hit the last nail in my coffin with their recent aerial campaign in Iraq.”Continuing to read, Foley’s comments became directed at his brother, John, a member of the Air Force. “Think about what you are doing. Think about the lives you destroy, including those of your own family,” Foley said. “I call on you, John. Think about who made the decision to bomb Iraq recently and kill those people, whoever they may have been.“Think, John. Who did they really kill? And did they think about me, you and our family when they made that decision?” he asked. “I died that day, John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on those people, they signed my death certificate. I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.”The executioner then put his right hand across Foley’s mouth and chin, pulled the prisoner’s head back, and with his left hand sawed his head off using a 6-to-8-inch knife.The gruesome slaying was reminiscent of the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by Pakistani terrorists linked to Al Qaeda.The FBI was trying Tuesday night to validate the video, which was quickly removed from YouTube.“If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist,” the White House said in a statement.But Foley’s mother left no doubt she believes the video is real. “We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages,” Diane Foley pleaded in her statement. “Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.”A priest was seen going into the Foley family’s home on Tuesday night.Kelly Foley, believed to be a cousin, posted a heartbreaking note on Twitter. “Life is the most precious thing and its unfathomable how quickly it can be taken away. I love you James Foley. Rest peacefully; you’re free,” Kelly Foley tweeted.Foley is one of more than 40 journalists who have been killed while working in Syria since March 2011, according to Reporters Without Borders, which named the country the world’s most dangerous for journalists.More than 178 journalists in the country have been imprisoned, including Sotloff, who went missing in August 2013.“Foley had employed a translator to help him travel across the Syrian-Turkish border. The translator was also taken, but later released,” the FBI said.Rep. Pete King (R-Long Island), who has repeatedly warned that ISIS is a threat to the homeland.“This demonstrates how evil ISIS is, how dangerous they are, how inhumane, and obviously raises the level of our response,” said King, chairman of the House sub-committee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.“They are an international threat, more ruthless than Al Qaeda, and we have to use air power, arm the Kurds, embed Special Operations forces with the Iraq Army and not rule anything out,” King said.Obama has resisted calls to return American ground troops to Iraq to fight ISIS. The President hadn’t spoken about the video by late Tuesday.Rep. Steve Israel (D-Long Island) said Foley’s death was a wake-call for the nation.“James Foley was brutally murdered as a journalist who sought to report the truth. And the truth is we continue to be up against a bunch of terrorist thugs like ISIS and need to broaden our counter-terror strategies to put them out if business,” Israel said.“We’re no longer fighting enemy states with weapons systems and a loose regard for the laws of war. We are fighting lawless jihadists with knives who behead reporters.”Foley had been taken prisoner once before, in 2011 in Libya by forces loyal to Muammar Khadafy.After he was freed, Foley spoke of the ordeal in an interview with the Boston Globe, describing how he watched in horror as a South African photographer was murdered.“The soldiers came up to me, struck me with the butt of an AK several times,” Foley said. “My helmet was knocked off. I think I was punched.He said he and other journalist were taken to Tripoli, where they were interrogated.(nydailynews.com)Bakudaily.Az