President Obama in an interview with Buzzfeed News Tuesday said not paying the ransom for Kayla Mueller, the American hostage killed while held captive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, was “as tough as anything I do.”
“The one thing that we have held to is a policy of not paying ransoms with an organization like” the Islamic State, Obama said in the interview. “And the reason is once we start doing that, not only are we financing their slaughter of innocent people and strengthening their organization, but we’re actually making Americans even greater targets for future kidnappings.”
Obama also revealed for the first time that he attempted to rescue Mueller as part of a failed raid on a compound in Syria.
Mueller had been held captive by the Islamic State for more than a year before U.S. officials confirmed her death Tuesday.
Obama said that his “immediate reaction was heartbreak” over the death of the 26-year-old Arizonan. And he vowed to use all the tools at his disposal to combat the Islamic State.
