[Keilar:] Breaking news tonight. We want to welcome our viewers from around the world to this breaking news coverage. An American journalist has been beheaded by ISIS terrorists. A video showing the horrific killing and its gruesome aftermath was released on the Internet a short while ago, along with a message to the United States to end its intervention in Iraq. The victim was freelance journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in 2012 while covering the war in Syria. In the video, he is seen kneeling next to a man dressed in black. Foley reads a message presumably scripted in detail by his captors that his real killer is America. The video, which is obviously too gruesome for us to show you, then shows Foley's beheading. After that, it shows another American journalist, also dressed in orange and kneeling. And that man is believed to be Steve Soltoff, a contributor to "TIME" magazine, who was kidnapped at the Syrian- Turkish border in 2013. The terrorist says his life is hanging in the balance, depending on what President Obama does next. Let's bring in our senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh. He is in Erbil in northern Iraq Nick.
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Brianna, James Foley was kidnapped in November 2012, a comparative long time ago, when the Syrian civil war was underway near a town called Pathamad whilst coming out of an Internet cafe. It was unclear at that time who had taken him. And back then, ISIS, as it is now known, didn't really exist inside Syria and less so in its current form in Iraq. So clearly, within the 636, if you count the days in which he was held in captivity, he changed hands within the underground functions as sort of Syria's kidnap business. There are a lot of Americans, it seems, held have been held at some point or other foreigners by various different groups that make up Syria's rebels at times. Some of them more criminal. Some of them moderate. And as time has gone by, ISIS, it seems, has moved into that particular market and taken some of those individuals to one side. I've spoken to one American who actually escaped kidnap by Syrian rebels. More extreme variety. And he described how long periods were spent locked underground. He eventually managed to escape from that and described also the torture he suffered. But in these circumstances, for James Foley's family, a horrific time. He was a better correspondent in many conflict areas, was briefly detained in 2011 in Libya by Moammar Gadhafi's forces. And as I say, then, detained and then subsequently it's not clear what exactly his path was, who held him until we'd seen this horrifying video today. The orange jump suit, reminding many people of past videos people have seen emerging from Iraq during the times of the insurgency against the American presence there and, of course, it would be equally troubling for the other American journalists referenced in that video, to see him also in an orange jumpsuit. A deeply troubling moment, I think, for many of the journalists who have been covering this conflict for quite some time, to have known that our friends and colleagues have been held by ISIS and then released, some of them. Some of them still held now, and many I think were worried that if U.S. intervention began against ISIS, who in the eyes of many observers are
[Keilar:] Yes.
[Walsh:] a likely long-term threat to the United States' interests, and if U.S. military campaigns against them began, that those Americans held by ISIS may meet the kind of gruesome fate that it appears we have seen James Foley meet in this
[Keilar:] All right. Nick, Nick, I'm sorry to interrupt you. We actually have to go to the White House, where our senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, is standing by. Are we getting reaction, Jim, from the White House?
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] Yes, Brianna, it is brief. But the White House says at this point intelligence community officials are trying to confirm that this is indeed the killing of journalist James Foley. But let's go ahead and put a statement on screen if we have it. If not, I'll just read it, in terms of what the statement reads from this White House spokesperson, Caitlyn Haden out of the National Security Council. It says, "We have seen a video that purports to be the murder of U.S. citizen James Foley by ISIL. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist. And we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available." And Brianna, in just the last couple of seconds, I pinged them back to find out whether or not it has been confirmed. They're just not at that point right now. But one thing we should point out: President Obama has just landed on Martha's Vineyard to resume his vacation there. We are not expecting to hear from the president on this point. But, of course, all of that could change. We've seen that over the last several days with this president on his vacation. It hasn't been much of one. He's been forced to come out in front of the cameras and talk about things that have been developing, not just in Ferguson but in Iraq as well Brianna.
[Keilar:] James Foley is a journalist and he is also an American, more importantly. Jim Acosta, thank you so much. Stand by for us as we continue our breaking news coverage of this. I also want it bring in our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson, as well as national security analyst Peter Bergen. Are you surprise bid this, peter?
[Peter Bergen, Cnn National Security Analyst:] Not really.
[Keilar:] You're not. Why?
[Bergen:] I mean well, there have been so many Americans that have taken by ISIS. ISIS is not a group that is very open to negotiations of the conventional kind. I mean, occasionally, we've seen an exchange, we saw an exchange for American prisoner of war with the Taliban. But that was conducted at the prisoner of war level. This is a rather different kind of you know, kind of negotiating with al Qaeda. I can't think of an example offhand where as official matter, U.S. officials have sort of said, we're going to do a negotiation. Maybe they turn a blind eye, but it is policy not to negotiate, particularly with a group like al Qaeda.
[Keilar:] Does it speak, Nic, to the brutality of ISIS here?
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] It speaks to their strategic view. They held these journalists, James isn't the only one. There are three other Americans, two British and one New Zealand. They've held other European journalists. They've hold them as bargaining chips. Now, we don't know why the French journalists were released. We do know that the American government and the British government don't negotiate with terrorists and certainly don't ever pay ransom for terrorists. Again, we don't know why some of these other journalists had been released and what's going on behind the scenes there. But this speaks to ISIS using these people as bargaining chips to try to get what it wants. And right now, it wants the United States off its back. The United States is showing itself in Iraq around, hitting ISIS targets there to free up that key strategic dam and ISIS is feeling the heat.
[Keilar:] With air strike, yes.
[Robertson:] With air strike and ISIS is feeling the heat. And this is the way they're gong to fire back. And if we continue in this thing, which we will, we can expect ISIS to continue to parade before us, this brazen, wanton, horrific there's no word to describe it, brutal, craven pick your word. It's horrible. But this is an unrelenting so far.
[Keilar:] Nic and Peter, stand by. And we're going to be right back with you as we continue to cover this. I want to bring in now Bob Baer, former CIA officer and CNN national security analyst, as well as Fran Townsend, former homeland security adviser to President Bush and CNN national security analyst. And joining us on the phone is former CIA director James Woolsey. Mr. Woolsey, as you look at this, the timing of this, why do you think ISIS chose now for this?
[Amb. R. James Woolsey, Chairman, Foundation For Defense For Democracies:] I think the previous speaker was right. They are somewhat squeezed, I think, by an unexpected decision, unexpected on their part by President Obama to use force. He has backed down so many times on using force in Syria and elsewhere, I think they may have been surprised and are doing the best they can to retaliate. I think it's really important that we are dealing here with theocratic totalitarian imperialists. They are of the view that we are the devil. They are of the view that they should control all aspects of their subject's life and they want an empire, and a caliphate in the Mideast. And it's a different qualitatively different thing than dealing even with al Qaeda and certainly dealing with some of the other groups. It is much worse than terrorism. We are at war.
[Keilar:] And, Fran, when you look at how this has been revealed and the fact that we know that James Foley has been missing for some time. He went missing in Syria in November of 2012. There was thought he might have been held by the Syrian government. Now, ISIS, obviously, had him at some point. We've been talking about this, that in a way on sort of a black market, some of these journalists, captives, are traded almost as bargaining chips, right?
[Fran Fragos Townsend, Cnn National Security Analyst:] That's right. Fundamentally, the terrorist is on the screen. I watch this horrific video, and he claims that they are a legitimate government, as Director Woolsey mentioned. They've declared their caliphate in the Levant and he claims that they are a legitimate government, but he is using what is out of the al Qaeda play book. We've seen al Qaeda videos of beheadings before. And I think this is an indication that the strategy of military support and military action against ISIS is having an effect, because now they're reacting and they're trying to push back against that, and they want it to stop. I mean, I think it is absolutely right that you can expect more of this. They will however many individuals they have in captivity, they will one by one bring them out because they're feeling the pressure of military action.
[Keilar:] Bob, what are you expecting the U.S. government to do here?
[Bob Baer, Cnn National Security Analyst:] The U.S. government's not going to give up in Iraq. It cannot afford to allow the Islamic state to establish itself. I think these strikes will continue, as the president said. The U.S. government will try to help take back Mosul with the Iraqis. It's clear that we're going to do something about Iraq. And I think, as my previous speakers have said, ISIS is going to hit back at us. The question is: are they capable of hitting outside of Syria and Iraq, for instance, in Europe or even the United States? Sources tell me that they believe that ISIS is here in this country, and they're unsure whether they can they actually have plans to do something, but it's a fear in the U.S. government, which in they're after it right now.
[Keilar:] All right. Bob, stand by for us. Fran as well. Ambassador Woolsey as well. We want to find out a little bit more about James Foley. You may not be familiar with him or with his family. And CNN's Brian Todd is here with more on that. Tell us, Brian, tell us about him and his family.
[Brian Todd, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Brianna, he had been missing, as we'd been reporting, since Thanksgiving Day of 2012 when according to an FBI notice at the time on the Internet, he was taken by an organized gang in the city of Banash, Syria. Now, according to the FBI, he was kidnapped after leaving an Internet cafe there. He had a translator at the time but the translator was later released. In January of 2013, James Foley's family made a televised appeal, actually a couple of them at least, to his captors. They talked about the precautions he had taken and the kind of journalist he was. Take a listen.
[John Foley, Father Of James Foley:] James is an objective reporter who has been working as a freelance journalist in Syria for over a year. He's passionate about giving life to stories of people within conflict areas.
[Michael Foley, Brother Of James Foley:] He's taken every precaution, you know, possible, you know, traveling trying to travel with the right folks. He's been through risk training. He had a locator devices, you know, everything you can imagine.
[Todd:] Those, of course, televised appeals from James Foley's family in January of 2013. That last one was from his brother Michael Foley. Now, various reports say that James Foley was from Rochester, New Hampshire. He'd been a freelance photojournalist in the Middle East and in North Africa. Also, while in Libya in 2011, he'd been shot at and taken captive by forces loyal to then-dictator Moammar Gadhafi. He was reportedly held by them for more than a month. According to his family's Web site, James Foley was the oldest of five children. According to that FBI notice we saw on the Internet, Brianna, he would have turned 41 later this year.
[Keilar:] That's horrific and it's so terrible, this breaking news that we're covering here. Brian Todd, thank you. Just ahead, stay with us for this breaking news. An American journalist beheaded by ISIS as the group makes new threats to America. And we're bracing for another night of protests in Ferguson. The latest on the ground.