Slain American journalist James Foley was reportedly waterboarded by ISIS terrorists

Updated



By RYAN GORMAN

Islamic State terrorists reportedly waterboarded slain American journalist James Foley and others held captive in Syria.

Foley was among four Westerners kidnapped by the insurgents who faced the torture, a source told the Washington Post. ISIS is said to have followed the same methods used by the CIA.

Those who are waterboarded are often held or strapped down while a wet cloth is placed over their faces and cold water is poured over it.

"The wet cloth creates a barrier through which it is difficult - or in some cases not possible - to breathe," according to a May 2005 Justice Department memo cited by the Post.

"They knew exactly how it was done," said the source, adding that it was done several times.

ISIS held the captives in the city of Raqqah, in north-central Syria.

"Yes, that is part of the information that bubbled up and Jim was subject to it," a second person told the Post. "I believe he suffered a lot of physical abuse."

An ISIS-produced video of Foley's beheading surfaced last week. It showed him bound and kneeling next to a mujahedeen believed to be a London-based rapper-turned-terrorist.

Foley's mother told the Post Thursday that she was unaware her son had been waterboarded.

Federal officials declined official comment, but an anonymous operative blasted the report.

"To suggest that there is any correlation between ISIL's brutality and past U.S. actions is ridiculous and feeds into their twisted propaganda," the official told the Post.

Fox News journalist Steve Harrigan famously had himself waterboarded on live television in 2006 to show how awful the process is. He was reduced to tears by the end of the segment.

The mother of kidnapped journalist Steven Sotloff released a video Wednesday imploring the terrorist to spare her son's life.

"Please release my child," Shirley Sotloff pleaded. "And as a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over."

President Obama told reporters Wednesday that "rooting out a cancer like ISIS will not be quick or easy, but I'm confident that we can and we will."

Obama did not directly mention either Foley or Sotloff in his remarks.

Manhunt Begins for Killer of James Foley
Manhunt Begins for Killer of James Foley


Related links:
AOL poll: Opinions divided over whether slain American journalist James Foley is a martyr
Westerners who join fight in Syria
Photos show gruesome Islamic State seizure of base
Mom pleads for release of captive US journalist

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