Why death of Kayla Mueller does not fit pattern of Islamic State brutality
Islamic State are known for their brutality but little is known about their latest victim's ordeal
Kayla Mueller's captivity was certainly different.
Islamic State jihadists are known for the bloody, fiery spectacles they make of their prisoners. They show no mercy, even towards women, as seen in the videos of fighters stoning to death an accused adulterer. They've beheaded journalists and aid workers, tossed suspected gays from tall buildings and tortured captive children with electric cables.
And yet, for whatever private horror the 26-year-old Mueller endured for 18 months, her life as a hostage and her death last week, possibly in a coalition air strike, were kept largely out of the public eye.
"We don't know why Kayla was treated differently," said a source who is close to the Mueller family.
Family members also declined to assign responsibility for the other looming mystery of Mueller's ordeal: how she died.
The Islamic State group announced on Friday that she had died in a Jordanian air strike on the building in Syria where she was being held. On Tuesday, the Pentagon acknowledged Jordanian aircraft and American air crews had struck the target on Friday. But they refused to connect Mueller's death to the strike.
Still, US officials didn't dispute Mueller's fate, confirming she was dead after the Islamic State sent the family unspecified "additional information" over the weekend.
No matter how Mueller died, US officials said, the Islamic State ultimately bore the guilt because she had been a hostage of the group since she was seized in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria.
The confirmation of Mueller's death also raised once again the question of whether the US ought to reconsider its policy of refusing to negotiate ransom payments for citizens taken hostage by terrorist groups. Mueller was the fourth American to die in Islamic State custody in the past seven months - three of those were beheaded - even as a dozen or so Europeans were released after money exchanged hands.
A person with knowledge of Mueller's case said the captors had demanded a multimillion-dollar ransom.
US President Barack Obama has been adamant the United States will not change its no-ransom policy.
Yesterday, he sent Congress legislation to authorize military force against Islamic State fighters, summoning lawmakers to "show the world we are united in our resolve" to defeat militants who have overrun parts of the Middle East and threaten attacks on the United States.
In urging Congress to back military force, the president ruled out "enduring offensive combat operations", a deliberately ambiguous phrase designed to satisfy lawmakers with widely different views on any role for US ground troops in the Middle East.
In his letter, he referred to four American hostages who have died in Islamic State custody, including Mueller.
Majority Republicans in Congress responded warily to the request about US forces.
