We're All Fodder in One Way or Another

Diane Foley told ABC News today of the three separate warnings she said U.S. officials gave the family about the illegality of paying ransom to the terror group ISIS. “It just made me realize that these people talking to us had no idea what it was like to be the family of someone abducted… I’m sure [the U.S. official] didn’t mean it the way he said it, but we were between a rock and a hard place. We were told we could do nothing… meanwhile our son was being beaten and tortured every day.”

  ABC

But, the officials sure jumped on the chance to use his beheading as their war cry.

Foley’s parents were threatened with prosecution should they raise ransom money to get their son back.

Earlier this week five current and former officials with direct knowledge of the Foley case confirmed the alleged threats were made.

"It was an utterly idiotic thing to do that came across as if [the U.S. official] had the compassion of an anvil," said a former official who has advised the family.

I doubt he had that much.

And, I’d have said, “Go ahead. Prosecute.”