Al-Qaida militants’ killing of hostages demands retaliation

Neither Luke Somers, a British- born American freelance photojournalist, nor Pierre Korkie, a South African school teacher, was in Yemen as part of the counterterrorism efforts in the region by the U.S. and its allies. Yet, they were captured by al-Qaida militants and held hostage for 12 months and 18 months, respectively.

Somers and Korkie undoubtedly knew the risks involved working and living in that troubled part of the world, but they did not expect to be targeted by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and have bounties on their heads. And they certainly didn’t think they would become the latest targets in the ongoing armed insurrection by Islamic terrorists in the Middle East who are determined to turn the region into a theocracy and impose Shariah law.

Somers and Korkie were killed during a high-risk U.S.-led raid to free the American photojournalist from an al-Qaida militants’ compound in southern Yemen, a turbulent Arab country that is the centerpiece of America’s counterterrorism efforts in the region.

It was the second attempt to free Somers, 33, who had been held with other hostages in another location. U.S. troops launched that raid after the Obama administration concluded Somers would not be released.

He was moved during the attack, and intelligence sources informed the U.S. government that Somers and other captives were in a village in southern Yemen.

President Barack Obama gave the green light for Saturday’s raid by 40 American special operations forces and a sizable number of Yemeni troops after he was told that the American was believed to be in “imminent danger.”

Obama rightly called the killing of the journalist and the school teacher a “barbaric murder.” He added:

“It is my highest responsibility to do everything possible to protect American citizens. As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located.”

It is no accident that the president did not use the phrase “spare no expense” when talking about the extent to which this country will go to bring Americans home alive.

The U.S. government has a policy against paying ransom for hostages, which is exactly the correct position to take considering that the success of the terrorist organization in the headlines lately, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (now called Islamic State), is directly tied to its financial strength. ISIS militants, who have been leaving a path of death and destruction in Syria, Iraq and other Arab countries, have made hostage-taking a key element in their campaign of terror. But it isn’t a passive act. As the world witnessed earlier this year, two American and three British captives were beheaded, with the videotapes of those barbaric acts aired on the Internet.

No guarantees

But as U.S. government officials have noted, paying a ransom does not guarantee freedom for the hostage.

The only response that will aid the U.S. and its allies in their fight against global terrorism is to go after the leaders and the commanders on the ground of ISIS, the satellite organizations of al-Qaida (once the leading terrorist organization in the world), the Taliban, which is trying to return to power in Afghanistan, and other Islamic extremist groups.

The Obama administration must send a clear message to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and those involved in the capture of photojournalist Somers and South African teacher Korkie: There is no place on earth where you can hide. We’re coming for you.

The 2011 killing by U.S. Navy SEALS of Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaida and the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on America’s homeland, was a defining moment in the war on global terrorism.

It’s time for another brazen act by American special operations forces.