The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State released yet another new video today. Unlike previous videos, which depicted the brutal beheadings of captured journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid worker David Haines, today's video contains no violence. Instead, British journalist John Cantlie, who appears to be alone, speaks to the British and American publics, offering to "show [them] the truth as the Western media tries to drag the public back to the abyss of another war with the Islamic State."
"Now, I know what you're thinking," Cantlie says. "You’re thinking, he’s only doing this because he’s a prisoner. He’s got a gun at his head and he’s being forced to do this, right? Well," he continues, "it’s true, I am a prisoner. That I cannot deny. But seeing as I’ve been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose."
Cantlie goes on to urge the citizens of Great Britain and the United States to steer their governments away from war with IS. "There is time to change this seemingly inevitable sequence of events but only if you—the public—act now," he says.
Cantlie was previously captured in Syria by militants in 2012, but was freed by the Free Syrian Army.
YouTube removed the video, but a full transcript is below.
Hello. My name is John Cantlie. I'm a British journalist who used to work for some of the bigger newspapers and magazines in the UK, including the Sunday Times , the Sun, and the Sunday Telegraph. In November, 2012, I came to Syria, where I was subsequently captured by the Islamic State.
Now, nearly two years later, many things have changed, including the expansion of the Islamic State to include large areas of eastern Syria and western Iraq, a landmass bigger than Britain and many other nations.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, 'He’s only doing this because he’s a prisoner. He’s got a gun at his head and he’s being forced to do this, right?' Well, it’s true, I am a prisoner. That I cannot deny. But, seeing as I’ve been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose. Maybe I will live and maybe I will die, but I want to take this opportunity to convey some facts that you can verify. Facts that, if you contemplate, might help preserving lives.
Over the next few programs I’m going to show you the truth as the Western media tries to drag the public back to the abyss of another war with the Islamic State.
After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why is it that our governments appear so keen to get involved in yet another unwinnable conflict? I’m going to show you the truth behind the system and motivations behind the Islamic State and how the Western media, the very organization I used to work, for can twist and manipulate that truth for the public back home. There are two sides to every story. Think you’re getting the whole picture?
And I’ll show you the truth behind what happened when many European citizens were imprisoned and later released by the Islamic State and how the British and American governments thought they could do it differently to every other European country. They negotiated with the Islamic State and got their people home while the British and Americans were left behind.
It’s very alarming to see where this is all headed and it looks like history repeating itself yet again. There is time to change this seemingly inevitable sequence of events but only if you the public act now. Join me for the next few programs and I think you may be surprised.