Jim: The James Foley Story Page #9

And that's when they

threatened to kill Jim.

But me and my cluelessness,

I was just excited that

they reached out to us.

We had raised about

a million dollars in pledges

and so I was so excited to hear

from them because we thought,

now we can tell them we have this money.

And I was just so clueless.

We knew that paying a ransom was illegal

and we also knew that

it wouldn't have stopped us.

Foleys were prepared

to mortgage their house

and do what needed to be

done to make a payment.

I have a lot of evolving thoughts about

this whole process, and what the government

didn't do that it should

have done. I mean...

if you just look at the facts, there

are 15 European hostages who are alive

and with their families and

friends and loved ones today.

I wish we had started

raising money sooner.

I wish we had negotiated. I wish

it had turned out differently.

In some sense, I was okay with

the fact that he got captured.

'Cause I knew he was doing

what he wanted to do.

You know, and as a good family member and as

a good brother, I knew to understand that.

My mom did a great job in,

you know, keeping faith,

and working as hard as she could, but...

from the get-go once it happened, I

kind of felt like he was already gone.

[Daniel] So after a group of the other

hostages was released, the Beatles,

they came back, the day after...

And they...

They beated the sh*t out of James and I.

I think it's called a "Charlie horse"

when you put your knee into

the legs of a person and...

They did that to me and James while we

had to sit in a stretched position.

I don't know how many they gave

us, but, it just continued...

never tried anything that hurt

so much in my entire life.

And then they just left.

And I was just laying there crying, and I

couldn't be in my own body of pure pain

and James in the other

corner of the room, he...

I knew he got exactly the same treatment

as me, but I couldn't hear it.

He just... I don't know if he kept

it inside, or how he did it,

but only a few minutes after they

left James he kind of looked up

and asked me if I was okay.

I was like "shut up, James", I remember

I said, "shut up, James," you know.

"Don't ask me if I'm okay," you know...

"Don't worry about me," you

know, "worry about yourself."

But yeah, we just laid there until

the pain started to disappear a bit.

Two or three days after

they came in again.

This time, the Beatles just told us

that, "Now guys, everything's changed."

And they took all our food,

our games, most of the blankets.

And they started to use,

like police clubs.

So every time we went to the toilet

we got beatings with a stick.

We were so scared, we lost all hopes.

No matter what came through

that door, it was evil.

Those 14 days before I got released

was the absolute worst times.

When people started to get released,

we decided to send out letters

with the person who was released.

But James he didn't... He didn't

want to bother any of us.

And I remember one day that,

I saw that John and James

had been talking for some

times in the corner.

And after that John, he came

over to me and said "Daniel,

James he want to ask

you something."

"Okay, okay. What up,

James?" And he's like,

"Oh, uh, it's just if, if, if you want

to carry out a message or something."

You know, he was very, he said

it fa... He said it fast like,

like he didn't wanna bother me.

There's many ways of dealing

with a situation like this

and James, I think one of the

reasons why he remained so strong,

was because he managed to think

about all the good things.

He saw the light instead

of the dark spots,

where a guy like John,

he was much more realistic.

He knew when it was bad.

But I couldn't bring out the letter. I

was too afraid after these 14 days.

So I decided just to memorize

it as fast as I could.

So I started waiting, I knew they will

come in the morning to pick me up.

One day went, two days went,

and then fourth day, fifth day.

Sh*t, man. And then I woke up

the sixth day in the morning,

and I couldn't sleep,

I couldn't sleep all night,

because I was so afraid of what if

they are playing a trick on me.

And James he walked over to me and he, he

sat down right next to me and, and he said,

"Are you okay, Daniel?"

and I said "Yeah, uh."

And then I just couldn't hold

it back and I said "F***, man,

"I am really, really scared. I really

really, really, really scared right now.

I don't know what to do,

what to think. I..."

And he said "Daniel,

calm down. Calm down.

"Everything will be fine.

You are going home.

"They will come in a few

hours or tomorrow,

but one thing is sure Daniel,

you will go home."

Once again it was a weird feeling

because I was sitting there crying

and making a scene in front of James

and I was about to go home

and James he didn't have

anything to look forward to.

James, he went back to his,

his side of the room.

Ten minutes after

they knocked on the door,

they came in and asked me to put a

blanket over my head and follow them.

That was the last time

I... I saw James.

I call on my friends, family, and loved

ones to rise up against my real killers,

the U.S. government.

For what will happen to me is only a result

of their complacency and criminality.

I wish I had more time.

I wish I could have the hope of freedom

and seeing my family once again.

But that ship has sailed.

[Michael] I hadn't heard

Jim's voice in... two years.

You know, I guess, you can see it in

his neck, in his face he's just...

This strength he has at that moment.

And, I think of myself I'd be

calling for my mother or something.

Just the strength he had and I...

I wanted to feel what he felt

was the reason I watched it.

I kept getting messages

saying, "John, are you okay?

John, are you okay about what they

said, about what your brother said?"

I'm like, "What are

you talking about?"

I call on my brother John, who

is a member of the US Air force.

Think about what you are doing.

Think about the lives you destroy,

including those of your own family.

Even though he was reading that script,

he seemed defiant... to the end.

I mean, for sure, I still

have some guilt regarding...

me and just me and

unfortunately my profession,

but I'm sure that he endured torture.

Interestingly, John and I have... We've

argued a lot about things since that.

We've been communicating a lot more, we've

come a lot closer as a result of it,

and I think Jim would have loved that.

And you know Jim as well as I do,

he wouldn't have said those things

if there wasn't someone else

that was going to be harmed as a result

of it, he never cared about himself.

[Katie] My only thought when I found out

about Jim was, "how am I gonna get home?"

I had missed the initial

chaos of when it all happened,

but slowly we all kind of came together.

We literally chose the smallest

room possible in our house.

But everybody was just

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