The self-declared Islamic State has apparently released the second propaganda video in a promised "lecture series" delivered by kidnapped British journalist John Cantlie.
"In this program, we will see how Western governments are hastily marching toward all-out war in Iraq and Syria without paying any heed to the lessons of the recent past," says Cantlie, who is seated at a desk and dressed in an orange jumpsuit similar to the one he was seen wearing in a video released last week.
"Not since Vietnam have we witnessed such a potential mess in the making," he says, looking into the camera during the 5-minute, 45-second video.
As we reported when the first video was released, Cantlie has readily acknowledged that since "my fate now lies in the hand of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose."
Of the new video, The Guardian says:
"[Cantlie's] references to UK military aid to Kurdish forces and French and Danish support for military action suggest that the video was made in recent days. Other aspects of the film, such as his stubble and the state of the orange jumpsuit in which he is dressed, suggest that it may have been made at the same time as the last video in which he featured.
"Against a backdrop showing cuttings from the New York Times, Cantlie, 43, introduces himself as 'the British citizen abandoned my government, and long-term prisoner of the Islamic State.' "
Cantlie quotes former CIA officer and critic of the U.S. intervention in Iraq Michael Scheur.
"Senior U.S. politicians seemed content to call the Islamic State nasty names; 'awful,' 'vile,' 'a cancer,' 'an insult to our values.' But such petty insults don't really do much harm to the most powerful jihadi movement seen in recent history," the captive says.
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