Hoping Against Hope

"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 ... But seeing as I've been abandoned by my government and my fate lies in the hands of the [ISIS] I have nothing to lose."
"There are two sides to every story. Think you’re getting the whole picture?"
"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? Join me for the next few programs, and I think you may be surprised at what you learn"   John Cantlie, British photojournalist

A new video released by the Islamic State featured John Cantlie, a British journalist being held captive, acting as a spokesman of sorts for the organization.

Video Credit By Christian Roman on Publish Date September 18, 2014. Image CreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images

"They’re using him to present a rosy picture. Despite the absence of a knife or gun to his head, he appears to be under some duress while speaking."
Laith Alkhouri, senior analyst, Flashpoint Global Partners, security consulting firm, New York

"[The video is] evidence that these guys are winning the psychological warfare battle. [Staggered releases represent] choreography [to obtain maximum emotional impact."
"They don't just want to humiliate us. They want to humiliate us on a regular, scheduled basis, and they are upping the ante every time they do it."
"We need to bear in mind that he will do, understandably, whatever he has to do to preserve his life. He has no say in how this is unfolding."
John G. Horgan, psychologist, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Beheadings, it seems, tried and true as vectors of horror and transfixing terror, have become passe. The pendulum has swung to other methods of public relations. If the purpose is to mystify and confuse, the target is being met. What won't those great minds think of next? Well, how about the repeat horror of having been the victim of jihadi abductions not once, but two times? This has happened to John Cantlie.

The worst kind of luck. But perhaps the balance of fortune has weighed heavily on the side of such dread occurrences when one is a photojournalist determined to ferret out the news, all the news, the real news, and present it to an audience worldwide in the hope that people will begin to understand the fury of the threat that is being posed. And then, the ultimate irony; circumstances placing that very person in the position of surrendering his ambition to find and reveal the truth and instead play mouthpiece for the very fanatics he was intent on exposing to full public view.

In Mr. Cantlie's case, it isn't far off the mark to think that he went rummaging around in Dame Fortune' closet and came up with a losing proposition. A freelance journalist picked up by The Sunday Times of London and The Telegraph, he experienced a previous episode as a victim of kidnapping in Syria. He and another freelancer were together taken by foreign jihadis in 2012. Shot, then released by other rebels, Mr. Cantlie returned to Britain and was a witness in the trial of a British doctor said to have played a role in the kidnapping.

Dr. Shajul Islam, however was acquitted; the case collapsed, resting exclusively on the testimony of two witnesses who were not available for that purpose. And then Mr. Cantlie returned to Syria and was again captured and with him American journalist James Folie; both taken by their captors close to the area where Mr. Cantlie had been abducted the first time around.

Now, Mr. Cantlie, a member of the Western media, reading his ISIS script states that the "Western media" can "twist and manipulate that truth". The truth for him at this time in his life is that he would dearly like to preserve that life such as it is; he is only 43 years of age. He is well aware of the beheadings of two American journalists, the first of which was the very man he was captured with. And then the British aid worker.

Neither the United States nor Britain will negotiate with terrorists, unlike some European countries that will, and do, and secure the release of captured citizens, handsomely funding terrorist groups like Islamic State in the process. So, Mr. Cantlie finds himself a helpless pawn in a war between nihilistic fanatics of Islamist jihad and his own values as a member of a Democratic country in conflict with those jihadis.

He is, as psychologist Horgan stated, "Trying to preserve his life". The irresistible compulsion to find the news and report it has led him to live the torment and anguish of others who have not survived their ordeals.