The internet is buzzing about the authenticity of the James Foley video, as experts try to figure out how staged was it? [Video]

Its tough to say where I personally stand on the James Foley beheading video. I did see it on LiveLeak last week, and while I was prepared for something gruesome (much like the Daniel Pearl beheading), this particular beheading video left me more curious than sick.

The production, dialogue, background scenery, and even the outfits worn seemed clean and neat. Something felt off and the internet was quick to pick up on the multitude of discrepancies in the video. Even many main stream media outlets are starting to question the authenticity of the video and the actual beheading.

Experts are in full agreement that the actual video itself is staged, the question is how fake is the entire event. Was Foley actually beheaded off camera, killed in another fashion, or is something else at play?

The UK Times was one of the first MSM outlets to weigh in outright stating…

The video of a British jihadist beheading an American hostage was probably staged, with the actual murder taking place off-camera, according to forensic analysis.

“I think it has been staged,” said one expert in visual forensics, after he was commissioned by The UK Times to examine the footage.

“My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped.”

The news.com.au followed up on the story:

The analysis by experts has highlighted a number of inconsistencies that could suggest that the beheading of Foley, which was seen on the video, was not his actual death.

Firstly, no blood can be seen, even though the knife is drawn across the neck area at least six times. Secondly, sounds allegedly made by Foley do not appear consistent with what may be expected.

The forensic analysis expert said that no incision could be seen on Foley’s neck, though the right hand of the jihadist partially blocked the shot.

While the forensics company, which asked to remain anonymous, did not reach a definitive answer they did conclude that at some point an execution of Foley did take place.

This comes as a heartbreaking last letter from Foley to his family has been revealed on the Free James Foley Facebook tribute page.

While Foley was not permitted to send the letter, a fellow hostage, Danish photographer Daniel Rye Ottosen, memorised it word for word.

Youtube video bloggers and experts started to upload their own take on the event openly labelling the entire thing a complete hoax:

The International Business Times reports that video experts observed that the video showing the actual beheading of US journalist James Foley was so professionally produced and well-scripted, to the extent that portions of it appeared to be just being acted out.

“My experience of these things is when the knife gets close the knees buckle and you become like a rag doll, whereas this guy seemed to sit upright. It could be that that particular knife wasn’t the one that killed him, that that was a play-acting thing,” the expert told The Times.

After the part where the executioner was shown cutting Foley’s head, the video fades.

The next part of the video already showed Foley’s decapitated head while he was upturned back. His hands were handcuffed. But his right ankle already had bruises hinting that he had been kneeling on the ground longer than what was shown in the video. And most importantly, a different looking knife lies on the ground, next to Foley’s corpse.

“The guy is obviously dead but it may be that particular scene was acted and that was why he is staying stiff,” the security expert noted.

Things get more awkward as now a London hip-hop artist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary has been fingered as a key suspect in the hunt for  British accent killer of James Foley. British security services MI5 and MI6 reportedly identified the British hip-hop artist as the key suspect citing that Bary, 23, is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trial on terror charges in New York tied to the deadly 1998 bombings of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Former hostages held by ISIS have said he is one of several jihadists they nicknamed “the Beatles” due to their British accents, with two of his cronies referred to as “George” and “Ringo.”

British Intelligence has identified the ISIS killer of American, Abdel Majed Bary of London, England! pic.twitter.com/FEEy1iHk0J

— DR. TWEET, PhD (@Callisto1947) August 24, 2014

Bary, who went to Syria last year to fight in its bloody civil war, has a build, skin tone and ­accent all similar to those of “John,” according to The Telegraph.

Before becoming a jihadist, he was an aspiring rapper known as “L Jinny,” whose music was played on BBC Radio 1.

Finally the Moon of Alabama blog gives this background commentary on the journalist and the video:

The journalist James Foley was a propagandist for the Free Syrian Army. In that he had joined important U.S. politicians. The FSA terrorists were trained by the U.S. and then converted to ISIS which the U.S. now claims to fight. The U.S. is still giving rocket launchers and TOWs to FSA gangs, aka soon-to-be-ISIS followers.

ISIS is the typical cartoon supervillain the U.S. creates whenever it wants to propagandize for more wars. It is the best possible enemy. ISIS allows for ridiculous threat inflation that will probably give Obama new wide-open congressional Authority for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq and probably in Syria and elsewhere.

Those are a lot of miles from a few bloody drops in a somewhat staged video. Staged how much though is an open question.

References:

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2014/08/the-fishy-james-foley-video.html#comments

http://www.news.com.au/world/london-hiphop-artist-abdelmajed-abdel-bary-key-suspect-in-hunt-for-killer-of-american-journalist-james-foley/story-fndir2ev-1227034541900

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4186089.ece

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/563629/20140822/james-foley-beheading-video.htm