U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been holding a young American woman hostage for more than a year, and is demanding a ransom of $6.6 million.This is interesting on several levels.
The 26-year-old woman was working with several humanitarian aid groups, when she was kidnapped in Syria last year, CBS News reports. ISIS is demanding the $6.6 million ransom and the release of an MIT-trained neuroscientist, Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted of attempting to kill U.S. officials in 2010.
She and the two other American hostages held by ISIS have been threatened with death since American journalist James Foley was executed, ABC News reports. One of the hostages, writer Steven Sotloff, was indicated as the next victim in the video of Foley’s execution, if Obama doesn’t stop bombing the terror group.
First, what will be the "conventional wisdom" if this woman is shown to be raped and then killed on YouTube? Will that demand we go to war?
Second, what is the responsibility of American's when they travel to foreign lands? Especially war zones? I haven't checked but I assume that the State Dept put out advisory's about going to the hot spots dotting the planet. Is the country responsible for those citizens that go anyway? Should we be risking the lives of our personnel in rescue attempts for people that do stupid stuff?
I wonder.
Where does self responsibility end and national security begin?
