Obama: US trying to rescue American woman from Islamic State

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. is doing everything in its power to try to rescue an American woman being held by Islamic State militants.

A day after a Japanese journalist held by the militants was purportedly beheaded, Obama says the U.S. and its allies are deploying all available tools to identify a 26-year-old U.S. aid worker's location. He called her captivity heartbreaking.

The president spoke in an interview with NBC Sunday. The interview is airing Monday on The Today Show but the network released excerpts in advance.

The woman was captured last year in Syria while working for aid groups. U.S. officials have asked that the woman not be identified out of fears for her safety.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Obama-US-trying-to-rescue-American-woman-from-6055700.php?cmpid=rrpolitics

[msanthrope]

1. My thoughts are with her and her family. nt

[Chemisse]

2. An ISIS beheading has become as certain as death and taxes.

It's just so awful. And the captives know this, of course. It must be horrendous to live with no hope.

[jwirr]

3. And they call us ths spawn of satan. If we are that then what are they?

[IcyPeas]

4. article from The Guardian last August

Would there be a bigger outcry if they beheaded a female?

The Islamic State (Isis) militant group is holding hostage a young American woman who was doing humanitarian aid work in Syria, a family representative said Tuesday. The 26-year-old woman is the third American known to have been kidnapped by the militant group.

Isis recently threatened to kill American hostages to avenge the crushing airstrikes in Iraq against militants advancing on Mount Sinjar and the Kurdish capital of Irbil.

The 26-year-old woman was captured last year while working with three humanitarian groups in Syria. A representative for the family and US officials asked that the woman not be identified out of fear for her safety. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/26/isis-american-aid-worker-hostage-syria

[qazplm]

6. unfortunately

not with their target audience. They execute females. I fear that they don't see anything wrong with it. It might alienate slightly less extreme extremists...probably not something AQ or the Taliban would do...but the young thugs they are seeking won't have a problem with it.

[Recursion]

5. The fact that this was announced now leads me to think this is a critical moment

Thoughts and prayers are with her.

[riderinthestorm]

8. Her story's been in the news for months

Here's a link to one from last August

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/isis-demands-66m-ransom-26-year-american-woman/story?id=25127682

But I hope you're right that this indicates a breakthrough (and not in the sense that she's about to be beheaded).

[Jefferson23]

7. Horrific, unimaginable horror. n/t