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Peter Kassig Beheaded By Islamic State; 'Today We Grieve,' Obama Says By PATRICK J. MCDONNELL. U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig beheaded by Islamic State, White House confirms Peter Kassig is third U.S. citizen known to have been beheaded by Islamic State Islamic State militants have beheaded Peter Kassig, a U.S. aid worker and ex-Army Ranger who was captured last year in Syria while on a private humanitarian mission, the White House confirmed Sunday. U.S. officials authenticated a 16-minute video, released on various social networks by the militant group earlier in the day. The video also includes footage of the mass...

"Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter, stayed in touch with loved ones throughout his stay in the Middle East - including his captivity - in which he spoke movingly about his work. Below are excerpts from his writings released by his family. Email from Beirut, 18 March 2012 Here, in this land, I have found my calling. I have lived a selfish life, I have run until ..."

Peter Kassig, whom ISIS claimed Sunday to have beheaded and who took the Muslim name Abdel Rahman after his conversion, was struggling to find meaning and purpose in life, which compelled him to go to the Middle East to offer medical help to Syrian refugees, especially after fighting as a U.S. soldier in Iraq and having a divorce. Kassig, 26, an Indianapolis native, was working as a humanitarian aid worker in Syria when he was captured in the ISIS stronghold Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria on Oct. 1, 2013, according to a Facebook page operated by Kassig's family. He was...

Even while the media is describing Peter Kassig, the ISIS hostage who apparently converted to Islam in captivity and was beheaded, by his American name, the Obama statement calls him by his Muslim name. “Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter,” Obama’s statement reads. “While ISIL revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction… ISIL’s actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own.” Most of the hostages had in...

Over the last few years, we've seen a dozen Western hostages convert to Islam in order to appease their captors, or in the hopes of getting better treatment. It never works, of course.  The hostages are still beaten, or killed, regardless of their profession of faith. It would seem intuitive for Islamic State hostages to convert to Islam in order to win some modicum of mercy from captives who proclaim profound religiosity. But it clearly doesn’t work, according to accounts and stories from Somalia to Syria. And why should it, since the Islamic State has proven itself willing to execute people of...

In life, Peter Kassig sacrificed to alleviate the suffering of strangers. In death, he rendered proof to a sacred creed of courage: “Surrender is not a Ranger word.” Concluding their latest video, released yesterday, a man who appears to be “Jihadi John” of the Islamic State mocks the former U.S. Army Ranger, Mr. Kassig with this taunt: “doesn’t have much to say.” Peter’s decapitated head is then shown at the feet of Jihadi John. This is the Islamic State’s holy humor. Nevertheless, ...

“ISIL's actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own,” Obama wrote. “Today we grieve together, yet we also recall ...

Former Army Ranger Peter Kassig has been murdered by the barbaric savages of the Islamic State. This unfortunate turn of events was certainly not a surprise. The Islamic State doesn’t release hostages. They behead them or crucify them, based on Islamic religious doctrine. We have viewed the 16-minute propaganda video from the Islamic State. We will not link it here. The video actually depicts an orchestrated mass beheading, not just the murder of Kassig. One thing stood out in the video when we were looking at the twenty or so Jihadis doing the beheadings (see image below): There were many...

<p>This is perhaps the most elaborate and graphic of all the murder videos posted online by IS.</p> <p>Much of it is taken up with a recent history lesson on Iraq and Syria as seen through the eyes of the jihadists. But the latter part shows a mass beheading of Syrian prisoners in revolting, lingering detail.</p>

-snip- In the nearly 16-minute video uploaded to social networks on Sunday, a black-clad militant with his face concealed stands before a severed head that he claims is that of the U.S. aid worker.

The parents of a US aid worker held hostage by Islamic State militants on Sunday released photographs of their son and parts of a letter he wrote them from captivity in which he says he is scared to die but at peace with his belief. Peter Kassig, 26, was taken captive a year ago while doing humanitarian work in Syria, his family has said. He was threatened in an Islamic State video issued on Friday that showed the beheading of a British aid worker. Ed and Paula Kassig of Indianapolis, Indiana, appealed for his release on Saturday in a video...