EXECUTIONER IDENTIFIED?  – AT 7:26 A.M. ET: – A number of media reports tell us that both the American and British governments are working hard to identify the executioner of American journalist James Foley, whose beheading was seen worldwide on videos.  The identification may have been made.  From the Sydney Morning Herald: 

British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 have identified the man suspected of the horrific beheading of American journalist James Foley, according to UK media reports.

The hooded man with an English accent is believed to be 23-year-old Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, known to fellow Islamic State militants as Jihadi John.

The former rapper left his family home in an affluent west London suburb last year to fight in the civil war in Syria.

In early August he tweeted a photo of himself wearing military camouflage and a black hood, while holding a severed head in his left hand.

British SAS forces are hunting Mr Foley's killers, using a range of high-tech equipment to track him down and potentially free other hostages.

The Mail on Sunday is reporting that a "significant force" of SAS personnel has been deployed to northern Iraq over the past two days, joining local units fighting IS. They have fanned out into four-man teams, accompanying Iraqi and Kurdish troops in an effort to find British jihadis.

The Sunday Times reports that Bary is the key focus of the man hunt. He is one of the British jihadists former hostages referred to as the Beatles because of their British accents. The two others were called "George" and "Ringo".

And please note this:

Bary is the son of an Egyptian-born militant who is awaiting trail on terrorism in Manhattan, due to his alleged involvement in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

COMMENT:  Oh, groan.  So right in the middle of all this we'll have a trial in Manhattan – near schools and businesses, of the father of a guy who allegedly kills people for the Islamic State.  Real nice.  Can't we have these trials on military bases, or in areas without civilian populations?  This just proves the folly, and arrogance, of Eric Holder, who has indicated that the execution of James Foley will be seen as a law-enforcement problem.

August 24,  2014