The stories and insights from global news media on the life and ultimate fate of freelance reporter James Foley reveal a portrait of a man that was drawn to a cause that he couldn’t resist — a cause that he ultimately died for.

Foley spent two years in captivity, held by Islamic State militants, before his gruesome beheading somewhere in the remote deserts of the Middle East. In 2011 he was captured by pro-Gadhafi forces while reporting on the Libyan revolution for the news organization GlobalPost. During his capture, a colleague was killed at his side. This was a man who believed so sincerely in the power of truth that he knew it could cost him his life. 

In the rare time spent stateside, Foley worked to raise awareness of other journalists being held captive by extremist groups and governments around the world. At least 70 journalists have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict, and over 80 kidnapped, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The writing Foley was doing in Libya and Syria dealt mainly with the human cost of conflicts waged by authoritarian regimes and radicalized rebel groups. He wasn’t interested in good and evil or right and wrong, his focus was on the margins — the ones that often have no voice during conflict.

In his last piece for the GlobalPost before being kidnapped by Islamic State militants, Foley described the condition of the war-ravaged city of Aleppo, in Syria, as “deteriorating.”

“Many civilians here are losing patience with the increasingly violent and unrecognizable opposition — one that is hampered by infighting and a lack of structure, and deeply infiltrate
d by both foreign fighters and terrorist groups,” Foley explained. His life was ultimately taken by both a terrorist group and a foreign fighter.

Foley was kidnapped and decapitated because he was an American. The man who carried out the execution, it appears, is a British citizen who left the UK to fight with the Islamic State. In the video released by the group (this writer has not and likely will not watch the video), the executioner states in clear English why Foley is being killed and threatens the life of another American journalist,Steven Sotloff.  “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” he warns.

James Foley spent the last years of his life attempting to show the world the chaos, horror, brutality, and humanity of the violent conflicts in the Middle East. Kneeling in the sand, hands bound behind his back, head shaven and face gaunt, wearing an orange jumpsuit while a man clad in all black, only his eyes visible, knife in hand stands over him, both figures cast against a pale grey sky — James Foley’s murder, the same as his reporting,  a stark portrait of the madness of war.