# Alleged James Foley "beheading" video is so incredibly fake. How is anyone buying this bullshit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 21, 2014, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069 "2014-08-21T07:59:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/161 "2014-08-22T22:01:56Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Okay, maybe it wasn’t Berg then. My mistake. But the Eugene Armstrong one on that gore site, and many other related links, none look as scripted as this Foley one. By all means let me know when you’ve sorted this out. It’s only internet trivia to be quibbled over, not the murders of human beings. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/162 "2014-08-22T22:52:21Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > That’s exactly what I thought when I watched it. Might be a real head though, or maybe photoshopped since its a still? The body just doesn’t seem to match Foley’s. > > Anyway, I think James Foley is dead, and this was not his execution video. Comparing this video to the gruesome ones of Berg and Eugene Armstrong, plus the other ones Rigamorole linked for us, this visdeo in question looks like a dress rehearsal. There was screaming, overlapping dialogue, and at least five terrorists on screen in any other video. > > Guess we just wait for autopsy results? Best to skip the autopsy. The way this thread is going, we’ll find out he was an alien. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/163 "2014-08-22T23:05:20Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yeah, good luck with that. Maybe they sent to Damascus for one of [these guys.](http://buystoreshelving.com/male_fashion_mannequins/male_mannequin_20.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Davidius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Darth\_Davidius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Davidius)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/164 "2014-08-22T23:32:06Z")
I think we can all agree the video does **not** show the actual beheading. And saying that experts have deemed the video real isn’t saying much: after all, U.S. intelligence said Iraq had WMDs, yet after Bush gave the go-ahead for invasion and the U.S. captured Saddam, we found out Iraq had no such thing. I don’t know if this poor guy is still alive or if what the video is showing was what actually happened in real time. But the OP wasn’t the only one questioning the video… \*Two video experts were one in observing that portions of the purported video were give-aways that the beheading video was intended primarily for propaganda purposes. One security expert, who had credible experience of scrutinizing videos of beheading, noted a very strange thing about Foley’s video - in the seconds before the executioner jab the knife into Foley’s neck, there was no single sign that he was terrified. “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 [James] 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.\* Source: [http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/563629/20140822/james-foley-beheading-video.htm#.U\_fOJMVdXIc](http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/563629/20140822/james-foley-beheading-video.htm#.U_fOJMVdXIc) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/165 "2014-08-22T23:34:03Z")
(I have not seen the video in question.) \*\*If \*\* (as according to some here) the video shows an incomplete assassination (ie. it cuts away before any definitive signs of lethal harm) and shows only a still of a decapitated body, I’d want the news to tell me that, I’d want the government analysts to say "no complete video of the assassination has been made available to us, but we believe that an assassination was carried out because [reasons]. Anything less doesn’t make me jump to conspiracy theories, but it makes me think someone somewhere is fucking up. So which is it, are those claiming “fake” here wrong, or is the video “incomplete” as they suggest? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/166 "2014-08-22T23:37:27Z")
> [@Darth\_Davidius](#): > > I think we can all agree the video does **not** show the actual beheading. And saying that intelligence experts have deemed the video real isn’t saying much: after all, U.S. intelligence said Iraq had WMDs, yet after Bush gave the go-ahead and the U.S. captured Saddam, we found out Iraq had no such thing. It’s not really the same thing, though, is it? Determining whether or not an entire country has WMDs, when they did in the past and the president wants you to find something, is a little different to analysing a video. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/167 "2014-08-22T23:38:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Best to skip the autopsy. The way this thread is going, we’ll find out he was an alien. Technically, he was. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/168 "2014-08-22T23:44:19Z")
> [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](#): > > (I have not seen the video in question.) > > \*\*If \*\* (as according to some here) the video shows an incomplete assassination (ie. it cuts away before any definitive signs of lethal harm) and shows only a still of a decapitated body, I’d want the news to tell me that, I’d want the government analysts to say "no complete video of the assassination has been made available to us, but we believe that an assassination was carried out because [reasons]. > > Anything less doesn’t make me jump to conspiracy theories, but it makes me think someone somewhere is fucking up. > > So which is it, are those claiming “fake” here wrong, or is the video “incomplete” as they suggest? It’s incomplete, but that is obvious to anyone who watches it and is not what the op is saying. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/169 "2014-08-22T23:57:22Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > It’s incomplete, but that is obvious to anyone who watches it and is not what the op is saying. Okay, thanks. I in no way wish to align myself with any conspiracy theory; I tried to make my points distinct from a CT POV (obviously failed). Given that the video does not show a completed (fuck that’s ugly – I don’t know how else to put it) assassination and the only evidence of an assassination is (a single?) still image, shouldn’t that be clear in the reportage? Anything less than direct and simple truth seems to me to be wholly inappropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Davidius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Darth\_Davidius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Davidius)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/170 "2014-08-23T00:10:58Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > It’s not really the same thing, though, is it? Determining whether or not an entire country has WMDs, when they did in the past and the president wants you to find something, is a little different to analysing a video. What’s so hard to understand? Determining whether or not a country has WMDs or analyzing a video, you’re still taking the U.S. officials at their word when it comes to their conclusion, correct? So then, my point is: some were suggesting that because certain U.S. officials determined the James Foley beheading video to be real, it shouldn’t be questioned, yet certain U.S. officials were adamant that Iraq **had** WMDs (not that they did in the past), when it turned out Iraq didn’t have WMDs after Bush Junior invaded. If you’re going to say the video is real just because the U.S. says so, that’s a flawed and lazy assumption because the U.S. officials have been wrong before (case in point, Iraq and WMDs). ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/171 "2014-08-23T00:19:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > By all means let me know when you’ve sorted this out. It’s only internet trivia to be quibbled over, not the murders of human beings. Hey, I’d love to see all the murderers caught and shot, doubt we can ID any of them though. Who knows? Maybe someone forgot to take the lens cap off on the real one, so they released a phony execution, like others have mentioned, just to keep the scare tactic going. Scares me. These shitheads are just evil, and they’ll saw the head off slowly to prove it. Why they used two camera angles is beyond me. All that’s missing was the score. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/172 "2014-08-23T00:31:41Z")
Hi! I skipped a couple pages. Did I miss anything? No? I didn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/173 "2014-08-23T00:34:08Z")
You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me. Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o’clock this afternoon… with nail polish. These fucking amateurs… ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/174 "2014-08-23T00:35:15Z")
> [@Darth\_Davidius](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? Determining whether or not a country has WMDs or analyzing a video, you’re still taking the U.S. officials at their word when it comes to their conclusion, correct? > > So then, my point is: some were suggesting that because certain U.S. officials determined the James Foley beheading video to be real, it shouldn’t be questioned, yet certain U.S. officials were adamant that Iraq **had** WMDs (not that they did in the past), when it turned out Iraq didn’t have WMDs after Bush Junior invaded. If you’re going to say the video is real just because the U.S. says so, that’s a flawed and lazy assumption because the U.S. officials have been wrong before (case in point, Iraq and WMDs). I was assuming you were assuming that if US intelligence is wrong about the authenticity of this video, they’re mistaken, rather than lying. My point was that it’s a lot easier to determine the authenticity of a video like this than it was to answer “yes or no” on the question of Iraqi WMDs in 2003. If you’re suggesting US intelligence might be lying, what would the motives be? The reason I reject such a theory out of hand is that it makes no sense. Obama wants to bomb IS, so why tell the public a video intended as a response to that stance is authentic when it’s not? The US government doesn’t want to negotiate with terrorists, so why tell them a video showing just what the price for that stance can be is authentic when it’s not? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/175 "2014-08-23T00:38:55Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Serious question for the OP, do you think Foley is still alive? You have a grand total of four too many words in that question. > [@](#): > > Don’t do this, OK? Just don’t. Why would’t he do it? WONJCTs–each and every one of them–are jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/176 "2014-08-23T00:40:03Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > \*And an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. That’s a reference to the Head Loon, Chick, of dishonest tract fame, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/177 "2014-08-23T00:54:33Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > That’s a reference to the Head Loon, Chick, of dishonest tract fame, isn’t it? No. I’d tell you the actual reference, but first you should have a seat in this chair here… ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/178 "2014-08-23T01:22:08Z")
> [@andros](#): > > No. I’d tell you the actual reference, but first you should have a seat in this chair here… And I was just in _another_ thread in this forum where someone was praising a post/username combination… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/179 "2014-08-23T01:45:11Z")
A **The Great Unwashed** and anyone else not wishing to see the video. I shows a kneeling Foley, standing beside him is the masked assassin. The bad guy then moves behind him, put the knife to his throat. As he lifts the knife Foley starts to rise to avoid it and the video ends (fade to black). No blood. Cut to a still of a prone body with a severed head on it. That’s it. > [@Monty](#): > > Why would’t he do it? WONJCTs–each and every one of them–are jerks. Fair point. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069/180 "2014-08-23T01:55:21Z")
> [@andros](#): > > No. I’d tell you the actual reference, but first you should have a seat in this chair here… Not the Comfy Chair! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alleged-james-foley-beheading-video-is-so-incredibly-fake-how-is-anyone-buying-this-bullshit/696069.md?page=10)