Washington (AFP) - The mother of
executed US reporter James Foley said she felt her son's case was an
"annoyance" to the US government.
In an
interview aired Thursday with CNN, Diane Foley said her family was
warned it could be charged if it tried to raise ransom money to free
their son.
The family was
also told no prisoners would be exchanged for Foley, nor would the
government take military action, the mother said. The family was told
not to go to the media and "trust that it would be taken care of."
"As an American I was embarrassed and appalled," Foley said.
"I
think our efforts to get Jim freed were an annoyance" to the US
government, she added. "It didn't seem to be in our strategic interest,
if you will."
The 40-year-old
freelance reporter's death was revealed August 19 in a video released
by Islamic State militants, in which he is seen being beheaded.
CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: Picture taken on November 5, 2012 in Aleppo, northern Syria shows US freelance reporter …
IS
said his killing was in response to US air strikes against it. A week
later it released another video showing the beheading of another
American journalist, Steven Sotloff.
Foley
had covered wars in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria and contributed to
GlobalPost, Agence France-Presse and other outlets. He was seized by
armed men in northern Syria in 2012.
"Jim would have been saddened. Jim believed to the end that his country would come to their aid," Foley said.
"We were just told to trust that he would be freed somehow, miraculously," Foley's mother said. "And he wasn't, was he?"
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