Peter Kassig Needs Our Help

AP published a long report today about the ongoing ISIS beheadings. The point of the repirt is that ISIS was able to imbed its headquarters in Syria and sweep unimpeded across northern Iraq for a long time, seizing cities, taking hostages and terrorizing all who dared to confront them. But early in August, US airstrikes began and ISIS was not as free to rampage across Iraq. And it was then, on August 19, that the group released the first video that showed a beheading, that of American freelance journalist James Foley. The beheadings continued - at least nine over six weeks - of Western journalists, aid workers and Moslem soldiers. According to the AP, the videos became a recruiting tool for ISIS. And in Friday, ISIS released a new video showing the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning. The latest beheading video appeared after nearly two straight weeks of daily airstrikes against their fighters. AP concludes that "amid its losses, it is holding on to its edge in the propaganda war through beheadings." But this week, ISIS is winning. It has consolidated its territorial holdings near Baghdad, including Fallujah, and is closing in on Kobani near the Syrian-Turkish border. But the beheading trend is still unsettling, considering the ISIS is holding what US intelligence officials believe are as many as 20 hostages, including at least two Americans. When they captured Mosul, Iraq, in June, they beheaded security forces, raped women and terrorized residents into following an extreme form of Islamic law known as Sharia. But the group had held Western hostages for months and, in some cases, even years. Not until the airstrikes began, weakening the group's momentum, did the extremists start beheading the white Westerners. In the video of Henning's beheading, a masked militant warns the US that the gruesome attacks on individuals will continue as long as the airstrikes do. He also threatened that an American hostage, identified as Peter Kassig, would be next. "It is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people," the masked militant said. ~~~~~ US officials seem to agree with the AP. They say that's the only way the militants can continue to maintain support and attract new recruits. Alberto Fernandez, who heads the State Department's office for counterterrorism propaganda, said in a recent interview. "So what do they do? They boast about cutting people's heads off. They're trying to substitute that for military victory." ~~~~~ The ISIS beheading target identified on Friday, Peter Edward Kassig, 26, is a former US Army Ranger who was captured in Lebanon last year during a relief mission to help Syrian refugees. Kassig first visited Beirut on a college spring break trip. He returned to Lebanon, the next time as a medical assistant and humanitarian worker hoping to offer blankets, food and medical care to victims of the region's conflicts. Kassig enlisted in the US Army in 2004, and became a Ranger, ultimately serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment an Army special operations unit, according to his military record. He trained at Fort Benning, Georgia in 2006, and deployed to Iraq from April to July 2007. He was medically discharged at the rank of private first class in September 2007. In a January 2013 interview with Time, Kassig said he traveled heavily throughout Lebanon to assess the needs of people there. He said he designed his aid organization, Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, around a belief that "there was a lot of room for improvement in terms of how humanitarian organizations interact with and cooperate with the populations that they serve." SERA, he said, focused on supplementing the work of larger organizations by delivering aid that could "do the most good for the most people over the longest period of time possible. It's about showing people that we care, that someone is looking out for those who might be overlooked or who have slipped through the cracks in the system for whatever reason," he said. ~~~~~ In a statement issued Friday evening, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was being held by ISIS militants. "At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We wil continue to use every tool at our disposal - military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence - to try to bring Peter home to his family," Hayden said. ~~~~~ Dear readers, every hostage deserves to be found and rescued. But, there is something especially poignant about the case of Peter Kassig, a former Army Ranger. There is a long-honored tradition in the US military. It is part of the Warrior Ethos, which says : "I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade." Peter Kassig was not a soldier when he was captured in Lebanon. He had left the Atmy and founded a not-for-profit organization to help people displaced by the Syrian civil war. But, I cannot help but think of him as an American soldier who desperately needs help now. I know our military is doing all it can to find Peter Kassig and all the other hostages. But time is rapidly running out for Kassig. I would simply ask that the US Army do everything possible to save a young man who once was a soldier. Nate Rawlings has written about the search for the remains of a fallen comrade in Afghanistan. It took several years, but Specialist Matt Maupin's remains were found and returned to his family in Ohio. Rawlings described the honor of the quest : " The oath to never leave a fallen comrade is a promise made to each other, that even if we die, our brothers in arms will do everything they can to bring us home. It’s a mission that hasn’t ended, and as long as wars continue, it never will." It would be comforting to know that Peter Kassig is being remembered and sought by his former Army comrades.