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Here's a snip from Aug 22

QUESTION MARK

THE STORY

After video surfaced earlier this week of American journalist James Foley being beheaded by an ISIS militant, the US has a new to-do list: stop ISIS.

DETAILS.

James Foley was kidnapped by militants in Syria nearly two years ago. Earlier this summer, a US Special Ops team was sent into Syria to try to save him and other Americans, but failed. Last year, ISIS reportedly demanded a $132 million ransom from the Foley family and the GlobalPost -- a news organization where Foley worked as a freelance journalist. While other hostages were released, the Foleys started raising money and communicated with ISIS enough to feel confident their son was still alive.

SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Well, yesterday US Sec. of Defense Chuck Hagel said ISIS is more of a threat than al Qaeda. So that's just great. He also said that the US has to be "clear-eyed" about longer-term involvement in the Mideast. Then, another US official got more specific, saying ISIS can't be stopped without also hitting Syria with airstrikes.

theSKIMM

Read that last sentence above again. This is bigger than an isolated group in an isolated area, and this week's tragic events have moved the US's involvement up a notch. To what level, we don't know.

PS WHY DO YOU KEEP SAYING ISIS?

ISIS, ISIL, the Islamic State. These all refer to the same group, whose goal is to create a caliphate (think: giant Islamic state throughout the Mideast) President Obama uses the term 'ISIL' -- the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (an old term referring to a lot of territory in the Mideast) -- because the group's aspirations for its Islamic state go beyond just Iraq and Syria.

Original.