President Obama offered "prayers and condolences" today to the family of
Peter Kassig, an American aid worker killed by ISIS, which posted a new
video online boasting of the killing.
Kassig, the fifth Western hostage ISIS has claimed to have killed since
August, changed his name to Abdul-Rahman after converting to Islam,
according to his parents. The aid worker and former Army Ranger was
abducted in October 2013 while traveling to a town in eastern Syria.
Kassig's parents, Ed and Paula, issued a statement late today asking
that their son be remembered for what he did with his life, not how it
was ended.
"We are heartbroken to learn that our son, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig,
has lost his life as a result of his love for the Syrian people and his
desire to ease their suffering," they wrote. "Our heart also goes out to
the families of the Syrians who lost their lives, along with our son.
"We are incredibly proud of our son for living his life according to his
humanitarian calling," they wrote. "We will work every day to keep his
legacy alive as best we can."
Towards the end of the nearly 16-minute video, a militant stands over a
severed head, saying, "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a U.S. citizen, of
your country; Peter who fought against the Muslims in Iraq, while
serving as a soldier."
The militant speaks with a British accent and the video identifies his
location as Dabiq, a small town in the northern Syrian province of
Aleppo, near the Turkish border.
This is the first video in which the hostage isn't seen alive before his
apparent murder. Matt Olsen, the former director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, said it's unclear why Kassig didn't appear on
camera.
"It's possible, of course, that he wouldn't cooperate and speak on the
video," said Olsen, adding that intelligence officers are examining the
video in detail as they try to authenticate it.
Kassig's parents said in a statement that they were aware of the reports
of their son's death and were waiting for confirmation from the
government as to the authenticity of the video. They declined to comment
further.
In a letter smuggled out by a former ISIS captive, Kassig, 26, told his parents that he was afraid to die.
"I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not
knowing, wondering, hoping, and wondering if I should even hope at all,"
he wrote in the letter, according to his parents. "I am very sad that
all this has happened and for what all of you back home are going
through. If I do die, I figure that at least you and I can seek refuge
and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to
alleviate suffering and helping those in need."
Kassig was an Army veteran who served in the Iraq war before he was honorably discharged for medical reasons in 2007.
Kassig later became an emergency medical technician and volunteered as a
medical assistant in border hospitals in Lebanon in 2012, treating
Palestinian refugees and those fleeing from the Syrian conflict.
In the fall of that year, Kassig founded an NGO called SERA, Special
Emergency Response and Assistance, eventually moving its base of
operations to Turkey, according to a family spokesman. From there,
Kassig "sourced and delivered food and medical supplies to the growing
[refugee] camps on both sides of the Syrian border." He also gave
primary trauma care to children caught in the crossfire.
The video released today also appears to show the mass beheading of
several men identified as Syrian soldiers. The militants warn that U.S.
soldiers fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria will meet a similar fate.
Prior to the most recent video, ISIS appeared to stick to a precise
schedule of murder since Aug. 19, when the group showed the beheading of
American journalist James Foley, by releasing a video every two weeks
showing one hostage beheaded as well as a preview of the next victim.
However, the last video, showing the death of British aid worker Alan
Henning, was posted Oct. 3, more than a month ago.
Intelligence officials have told ABC News that ISIS media cells have
been targeted by the raids and say that they have severely diminished
the group's ability to produce gruesome propaganda videos and social
media messaging.
Obama was briefed on the video by National Security Advisor Susan Rice
while traveling back to the United States, said White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest.
Kassig "was taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group
that the world rightly associates with inhumanity," Obama said. "Like
Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff before him, his life and deeds stand in
stark contrast to everything that ISIL represents."
ISIS has killed four other Western hostages on camera previously: Foley
and American journalist Steven Sotloff, and British aid workers David
Haines and Henning.
British Prime Minister David Cameron called the video of Kassig "horrifying."