Sotloff Family Criticizes US For Ineptitude During Crisis

[Purveyor]

A family spokesperson said that this Administration did not treat the Sotloff family with the respect and the opportunities they should have been given.

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus
Published: September 9th, 2014

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Sotloff family spokesperson Barak Barfi revealed that American freelance photographer Steven Joel Sotloff was captured as he entered Syria and then sold to ISIS by ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels.

According to Cooper’s blog, Barfi, who is a research fellow at the left-leaning New America Foundation, and Sotloff were childhood friends.

The price tag paid by ISIS for Sotloff, according to Barfi, was “something between $25,000 and $50,000.”

“Somebody at the border crossing made a phone call. Barfi said Steven’s “name was on a list, people had said he was responsible for the bombing of a hospital, this was false, activists spread his name around,” and he was captured just after entering Syria.

While the news that Sotloff had been captured and then sold by moderates to ISIS was not known before, neither was the tension between the Sotloff family and the administration.

more...

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/sotloff-family-criticizes-us-for-ineptitude-during-crisis/2014/09/09/

[n2doc]

1. Trying to blame someone else.

Sotloff chose a dangerous profession.

[merrily]

4. So, blame the victim? How about blaming only ISIL and the kidnappers?

We need to thank our lucky stars that some people are willing to be jounalists in dangerous places.

[n2doc]

7. They are Blaming Obama

He would still be here if he had chosen to focus on, say, Ferguson. Lots of problems going under-reported.

But you are correct, the villains are ISIS and their helpers.

[merrily]

8. Yes, I saw the Op. They are grief stricken parents.

That is no reason to blame their deceased son.

[still_one]

2. Damn that Obama, forcing Sotloff to go into a war zone and be captured

I have no doubt the family is going through hell, but what did they expect the administration to do?

[GeorgeGist]

3. I wonder what assistance they received from the Israeli government.

[Purveyor]

6. There was this: Israel Says It Gagged Reports Captive Sotloff Was Its Citizen

by Dan Williams, Reuters
4 days ago

Israel said on Thursday it had prevented local media from reporting that slain U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff was also an Israeli citizen, in a bid to reduce the risk to him after he was seized by Islamist insurgents in Syria last year.

Islamic State, a militant group which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq, released a video this week of Sotloff being beheaded, calling the execution retaliation for U.S. air strikes. His Israeli dual nationality was made public after the White House authenticated the footage.

Sotloff, who was Jewish, immigrated in 2005 to Israel. Its government became aware "at an early stage" of his captivity that he was Israeli, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

"The censors issued a gag order against reporting that he was an Israeli citizen. We are also in close touch with the United States on this entire matter, both ISIS (Islamic State) and the journalist Sotloff," he told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

Israel's military censors are empowered to preemptively block media stories deemed harmful to national security.

more...

http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/israel_says_it_gagged_reports_captive_sotloff_was_its_citizen

[mulsh]

5. How long has the U.S.State dept's travel warning for Syria been in place?

I'm sorry for their loss but Sotloff freely chose to go to a very dangerous region, as did the other hostage.

I think the State Dept's travel warning about the region is the first step in the measures any administration takes to protect Americans. I think Americans who ignore the warning do so at their own risk.