Thread: White House, Family Confirm Death of US Hostage

U.S. officials and her family have confirmed an American woman held hostage in Syria is dead, four days after Islamic State militants said a coalition air raid killed the aid worker.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said U.S. intelligence analysts have not determined when or how 26-year-old Kayla Mueller died after being kidnapped in August 2013.

Claims surfaced online late last week that a Jordanian airstrike hit a building where Mueller was believed to be held in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Jordanian, U.S. and other officials raised questions about the claim.

Earnest said a Jordanian airstrike on February 6 was conducted in coordination with the United States near Raqqa, but "there is no evidence of civilians in the target area.... That certainly would call into question the claims that are made by ISIL."

"What is not possible to call into question is that ISIL, regardless of her cause of death, is responsible for it," he said. "This, after all, is the organization that was holding her against her will. That means they are responsible for her safety and for her well-being. And they are, therefore, responsible for her death."

National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Mueller's family received a private message from Islamic State captors over the weekend containing "additional information."

“Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased," Meehan said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State alone "is the reason Kayla is gone."

"Like our friends in Jordan, our resolve is unshaken to defeat this vile and unspeakably ugly insult to the civilized world and to defeat terrorists whose actions – killing women, killing children, burning people alive – are an insult to the religion they falsely claim to represent," he said.

In a written statement, President Barack Obama said, "She has been taken from us, but her legacy endures, inspiring all those who fight, each in their own way, for what is just and what is decent. No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla’s captivity and death."

U.S. Senator John McCain, who represents Mueller's home state of Arizona, said Tuesday that "Kayla’s remarkable legacy of service will never be forgotten, even by so many who never had the honor of meeting her."

Mueller's parents were "heartbroken" over their daughter's death, they said in a statement.

"We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life," Carl and Marsha Mueller said in the statement. "Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice and peace."

This handout image obtained Feb. 10, 2015, courtesy of the Mueller family shows a copy of an unpublished letter (with transcription) 26-year-old Kayla Mueller wrote to her loved ones in the Spring of 2014, while in captivity.
This handout image obtained Feb. 10, 2015, courtesy of the Mueller family shows a copy of an unpublished letter (with transcription) 26-year-old Kayla Mueller wrote to her loved ones in the Spring of 2014, while in captivity.
In a letter made public by the family, the aid worker wrote during her captivity that she was being treated with the "utmost respect [and] kindness" at a "safe location, completely unharmed [and] healthy."

"If you could say I have 'suffered' at all throughout this whole experience, it is only in knowing how much suffering I have put you all through," Mueller wrote on a notebook page. "I have surrendered myself to our Creator."

"None of us could have known it would be this long, but know I am also fighting from my side in the ways I am able. I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down [and] I will not give in no matter how long it takes," she added.

White House, Family Confirm Death of US Hostage

Earnest said a Jordanian airstrike on February 6 was conducted in coordination with the United States near Raqqa, but "there is no evidence of civilians in the target area.... That certainly would call into question the claims that are made by ISIL."

The US not having 'evidence' does not mean there were no civilians "in the target area". Maybe Kayla was wearing black "IS style" clothes or perhaps she was in a building or vehicle that was bombed. I don't know, and neither does the US.

White House Spokesman Josh Earnest said U.S. intelligence analysts have not determined when or how 26-year-old Kayla Mueller died after being kidnapped in August 2013.

Another human being is dead. And so it goes on.

Originally Posted by misskit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State alone "is the reason Kayla is gone."

So not the big bomb from your plane falling on her head then? That had nothing to do with it?

A little taste of western rulers hypocrisy here. We, rightfully, are supposed to think "well, she was only bombed by an allied plane because ISIS kidnapped her and are up to no good" but on the flip side we are not allowed to think "ISIS and the other extremists are only doing this and have so much support because of the war on Islam that the allied forces have been carrying out for the last 2 decades and the millions of civilians their actions have murdered".

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by misskit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State alone "is the reason Kayla is gone."

So not the big bomb from your plane falling on her head then? That had nothing to do with it?

A little taste of western rulers hypocrisy here. We, rightfully, are supposed to think "well, she was only bombed by an allied plane because ISIS kidnapped her and are up to no good" but on the flip side we are not allowed to think "ISIS and the other extremists are only doing this and have so much support because of the war on Islam that the allied forces have been carrying out for the last 2 decades and the millions of civilians their actions have murdered".

Remarkable that you would find a microgram of sympathy for these bloodythirsty subhumans.

You mean nothing dramatic? No live burnings beheading?

Originally Posted by spliff

You mean nothing dramatic? No live burnings beheading?

If it makes you feel better she probably was beheaded of a sort and burned by the bomb that got her.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by misskit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State alone "is the reason Kayla is gone."

So not the big bomb from your plane falling on her head then? That had nothing to do with it?

A little taste of western rulers hypocrisy here. We, rightfully, are supposed to think "well, she was only bombed by an allied plane because ISIS kidnapped her and are up to no good" but on the flip side we are not allowed to think "ISIS and the other extremists are only doing this and have so much support because of the war on Islam that the allied forces have been carrying out for the last 2 decades and the millions of civilians their actions have murdered".

Remarkable that you would find a microgram of sympathy for these bloodythirsty subhumans.

From wiki.

An ad hominem (Latin for "to the man" or "to the person"[1]), short for argumentum ad hominem, means responding to arguments by attacking a person's character, rather than to the content of their arguments. When used inappropriately, it is a fallacy in which a claim or argument is dismissed on the basis of some irrelevant fact or supposition about the author or the person being criticized.[2] Ad hominem reasoning is not always fallacious, for example, when it relates to the credibility of statements of fact or when used in certain kinds of moral and practical reasoning.[3]

Originally Posted by pseudolus

Originally Posted by misskit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Islamic State alone "is the reason Kayla is gone."

So not the big bomb from your plane falling on her head then? That had nothing to do with it?

A little taste of western rulers hypocrisy here. We, rightfully, are supposed to think "well, she was only bombed by an allied plane because ISIS kidnapped her and are up to no good" but on the flip side we are not allowed to think "ISIS and the other extremists are only doing this and have so much support because of the war on Islam that the allied forces have been carrying out for the last 2 decades and the millions of civilians their actions have murdered".

Exactly.
Would you expect anything less from Secretary Kerry?