Family Mourns British Hostage David Haines
FEYERICK: ISIS terrorists have beheaded a third man, a British aid worker, releasing yet another propaganda video to horrify the world. David Haines was captured in Syria in 2013. A masked terrorist threatens him at the end of the video showing the execution of American journalist Steven Sotloff. Atika Shubert has more on who Haines was and the family he leaves behind.</s>ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): David Haines was a father and a husband. But he was also a hostage of ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Captured in March 2013, working at a Syrian refugee camp for French aid group, ACTED. Haines had more than a decade of experience doing aid work, providing logistics to Handicap International and working as an unarmed peacekeeper with nonviolence peace force. He grew up in Scotland, proudly wearing a kilt for his wedding. His family has declined to comment, but their plight is clear online. His teenage daughter from his first marriage makes it clear online how much she misses her father by answering just three questions. What's missing in your life that would make you very happy? My dad being at home, she answers. As his family waited, David Haines had become a pawn in the game of hostages now played by ISIS. Atika Shubert, CNN, London.</s>FEYERICK: David Haines, helping those most in need. Well, British Prime Minister David Cameron now vowing to confront ISIS. This comes just days after it was a little bit unclear as to whether the United Kingdom would join America's plan to strike the terrorists in Syria. Cameron taking a much stronger stance when he spoke earlier today.</s>CAMERON: Today, the whole country will want to express its deep sympathy for David Haines' family. They have endured the last 18 months of David's captivity with extraordinary courage, and now David has been murdered in the most callous and brutal way imaginable by an organization which is the embodiment of evil. We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice no matter how long it takes. David Haines was an aid worker. He went into harm's way not to harm people, but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need from the Balkans to the Middle East. His family spoke of the joy he felt when he learned he got his job in Syria. His selflessness, his decency, his burning desire to help others has today cost him life. But the whole country like his grieving family can be incredibly proud of what he did and what he stood for in the humanitarian mission. David Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was taken, held, and brutally murdered at the hands of ISIL sums up what this organization stands for. They are killing and slaughtering thousands of people, Muslims, Christians, minorities, across Iraq and Syria. They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims. They are monsters. They make no secret of their desire to do as much harm, not just in the Middle East, but to any countries or peoples who seek to stand in their way or dare to stand for values that they disagree with. It was an ISIL fanatic who gunned down four people in a museum in Brussels. So let me be clear, the British people need to know that this is a fanatical organization called ISIL, that has not only murdered a British hostage, they have planned and continued to plan attacks across Europe and in our country. We are a peaceful people. We do not seek out confrontation. But we need to understand, we cannot ignore this threat to our security and that of our allies. There is no option of keeping our heads down that would make us safe. The problem would merely get worse as it has done over recent months, not just for us, but for Europe and for the world. We cannot just walk on by if we are to keep this country safe. We have to confront this menace. Step by step, we must drive back, dismantle and ultimately destroy ISIL and what it stands for. We will do so in a calm, deliberate way, but with an iron determination. We will not do so on our own but by working closely with our allies, not just the United States and in Europe, but also in the region. Because this organization poses a massive threat to the entire Middle East. So we will defeat ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy. First, we will work with the Iraqi government to ensure it represents all of its people and is able to tackle this threat effectively. We will support the Kurdish regional government who are holding the front line against ISIL. We will help them to protect their own people and the minorities including Christians that they helped already through our supplies of ammunition and through training. Second, we will work at the United Nations to mobilize the broadest possible support to bear down on ISIL. Third, the United States is taking direct military action, we support that. British tornadoes and surveillance aircraft have been helping with the intelligence gathering and logistics. This is not about British combat troops on the ground, it is about working with others to extinguish this terrorist threat. As this strategy intensifies, we are ready to take whatever steps are necessary to deal with this threat and keep our country safe. Fourth, we will continue to support the enormous humanitarian efforts, including using the RAF to do so to help the literally millions of people who have fled ISIL and are now living in appalling conditions. And fifth and perhaps most important, we will maintain and continue to reinforce our formidable counter terrorist effort here at home to prevent attacks and to hunt down those who are planning them. People across this country will have been sickened by the fact that it could have been a British citizen. A British citizen who could have carried out this unspeakable act. It is the very opposite of everything our country stands for. It falls to the government and to each and every one of us to drain this poison from our society and to take on this warped ideology that is radicalizing some of our young people. The murder of David Haines at the hands of ISIL will not leave Britain to shirk our responsibilities with our allies to deal with the threat that this organization poses. It must strengthen our resolve. We must recognize that it will take time to eradicate a threat like this. It will require, as I have described, action at home and abroad. This is not something we can do on our own. We have to work with the rest of the world. But ultimately, our security as a nation, the way we go about our everyday lives in this free and tolerant society that is Britain, has always depended on our readiness to act against those who stand for hatred and who stand for destruction, and that is exactly what we will do. Thank you.</s>FEYERICK: And the British government released a statement on behalf of David Haines' heartbroken family, and it gives us a glimpse into the very full and generous life that David Haines lived and that was stolen so quickly and so brutally by ISIS. It was written by his brother Mike, I want to read it to you now in its entirety. And it begins, "My name is Mike Haines, I am brother to David Haines, who was recently murdered in cold blood. David was like so very many of us, just another bloke. Born in 1970 to parents who loved us both, our childhood was centered around our family. Holidays in caravans and tents, days away as a family which we remember fondly. David and I were brought up knowing right from wrong, and although we might not with the innocence of youth have always chosen right. David was a good brother, there when I needed him and absent when I didn't. I hope that he felt the same way about me. He was, in the right mood, the life and soul of the party and on other times the most stubborn irritating pain. He would probably say the same about me. After leaving school he worked with the Royal Mail before joining the RAF as an aircraft engineer," writes his brother. "He married his childhood sweetheart Louise and in the due process of time had a wee lass Bethany. He was, and no doubt wherever he is, exceptionally proud of Bethany. David served with the U.N. in the Balkans, helping people in real need. There are many accolades from people that have come out to speak on his behalf. He helped whoever needed help, regardless of race, creed or religion. During this time David began to decide that humanitarian work was the field that he wanted to work in. And David left the RAF and was employed by Scotrail. As with every job, David entered into it with enthusiasm. David met and married his second wife Dragana and they have a 4-year-old daughter Athea. David was most alive and enthusiastic in his humanitarian roles. His joy and anticipation for the work he went to do in Syria is for myself and family the most important element of this whole sad affair. He was and is loved by all his family and will be missed terribly." We will be right back.