The mother of James Foley, one of the American journalists beheaded by ISIS, talks to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the handling of her son’s capture. Here’s a clip from CNN (courtesy of Anderson Cooper 360°):
And here’s a partial transcript (as released by CNN):
DIANE FOLEY: as an American I was embarrassed and appalled… I think our efforts to get Jim freed were an annoyance you know…
ANDERSON: an annoyance to the government?
DIANE FOLEY: Yes and it wasn’t — didn’t seem to be in our strategic interest if you will… I was appalled as an American. Jim would have been saddened – Jim believed til the end that his country would come to their aid
DIANE FOLEY: We were, you know asked to not go to the media – to just trust that it would be taken care of. um we were told that we could not raise ransom, that it was illegal, we might be prosecuted um
ANDERSON: you were told you would actually be prosecuted?
DIANE FOLEY: Yes that that was a real possibility, told that many times. We were told that our government would not exchange prisoners umm would not do a military action um… so we were just told to trust that um he would be, be freed somehow miraculously and he wasn’t was he? And we’re dealing with very difficult people when we talk about ISIS. Their hate for us is great and yet some of our response to them has only increased the hate. So I feel there’s a need for debate, discussion. I, I pray that our government will be willing to learn from the mistakes that were made and to acknowledge that there are better ways for American citizens to be treated.
ANDERSON: an annoyance to the government?
DIANE FOLEY: Yes and it wasn’t — didn’t seem to be in our strategic interest if you will… I was appalled as an American. Jim would have been saddened – Jim believed til the end that his country would come to their aid
DIANE FOLEY: We were, you know asked to not go to the media – to just trust that it would be taken care of. um we were told that we could not raise ransom, that it was illegal, we might be prosecuted um
ANDERSON: you were told you would actually be prosecuted?
DIANE FOLEY: Yes that that was a real possibility, told that many times. We were told that our government would not exchange prisoners umm would not do a military action um… so we were just told to trust that um he would be, be freed somehow miraculously and he wasn’t was he? And we’re dealing with very difficult people when we talk about ISIS. Their hate for us is great and yet some of our response to them has only increased the hate. So I feel there’s a need for debate, discussion. I, I pray that our government will be willing to learn from the mistakes that were made and to acknowledge that there are better ways for American citizens to be treated.
