|
 ABC News quoted Foley's mother and brother as saying a military
officer working for President Barack Obama's National Security
Council had told them several times that they could face criminal
charges if they paid a ransom.
The White House refused to discuss conversations that the family had
with officials, but said they involved people from different
government branches, including the White House, the FBI, the
intelligence agencies and the Defense Department.
"I'm not going to get into who said what in the context of these
individual conversations," spokesman Josh Earnest said, but he
reaffirmed the U.S. policy not to pay ransoms because it can
encourage further abductions.
Foley's mother Diane told ABC News they were told several times of
the possibility of charges if a ransom were paid. "We took it as a
threat and it was appalling," she said. ABC did not identify the
official she was referring to.
"Three times he intimidated us with that message. We were horrified
he would say that. He just told us we would be prosecuted. We knew
we had to save our son, we had to try," Diane Foley said in an ABC
interview.
ABC quoted a spokeswoman for the National Security Council as saying
that the Foley family was informed of U.S. laws banning terrorism
financing but denying the family was told they could face charges if
they made a ransom payment.
Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, while not discussing
the family's charges directly, said she had gotten to know Diane
Foley in the last 18 months as she pressed the government to help
secure her son's release.
"She’s just relentless in a good way, in a way any mother who wanted
to do her utmost would. And I admire her very much, all that she
did. As a mother, I can only imagine her pain," Rice told a group of
reporters.
[to top of second column] |
Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "taken aback" by the
report. "I am totally unaware and would not condone anybody that I
know of within the State Department making such statements," he told
reporters during a visit to Istanbul to discuss international action
against Islamic State.
A video of the beheading of James Foley by an Islamic State militant
was posted on the Web on Aug. 19. Two weeks later a similar video
showed another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, being beheaded.
The United States mounted an unsuccessful military mission to try to
rescue Foley and other U.S. hostages held by the group in Syria this
summer.
"We have found that terrorist organizations use hostage taking and
ransoms as a critical source of financing for their organization and
that paying ransoms only puts other Americans in a position where
they're at even greater risk," Earnest said.
Islamic state is still holding a number of hostages from Western and
other countries.
(Reporting Roberta Rampton in Washington, Jason Szep in Istanbul;
Editing by David Storey and Ken Wills)
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