Bary's father was arrested on terror charges when he was six years old. His father was extradited to the U.S. in 2012. Bary traveled to Syria in May, 2013.
The other suspects from London being named in the media also arrived in Syria in mid to late 2013. They didn't go to join ISIS, that happened later.
Many of them first joined some other group, and used the name Rayat al Tahweed.
Some of the suspects' twitter accounts are still up, such as Abu Abdullah Britani and Rayat al Taweed_1, who recently tweeted:
To all the journalists, I don't know who the masked man is that took off the head of foley. Thank you for understanding.
Here's a Rayat al Tahweed video -- the voice doesn't sound like the one in the video to me. Here's an interview with Abu Samayah al Britani. The voice doesn't sound the same to me. This one is called Soldier of Allah, a name used by Bary in which he appears a few times.
The voice in this Rawat al Tawheed video (English, 1.5 minutes long, no visual) sounds closer to me.
Also, Bary is right-handed and the man in the video is left-handed (unless that was staged too.) None of this group of recent Brit recruits is well-educated as recently released hostages have asserted about their English speaking guards.
Other journalists who were kidnapped and released in 2012 gave similar descriptions of their guards. But since this group didn't arrive in Syria until mid-2013, then went through a few months of training, and didn't become formally affiliated with ISIS until June or July, 2014, they can't be describing this group of guards.
Dutch freelance photographer, Jeroen Oerlemans was interviewed in July, 2012 by Mclatchy, and described his jailers as a Pakistani Brit who spoke good English and several Brits with a Birmingham accent. (New York Times here.)
Perhaps relevant (keep in mind I'm no expert and just connecting dots from many diverse sources): In August 2012 the Daily Mail interviewed released journalist John Cantlie. He describes the doctor, Shajul Islam, as one of his captors. Islam was charged, along with a brother, and the case collapsed on the eve of trial. But last week, in investigating the Foley killing, he was brought in for questioning -- perhaps because he could identify the man in the video. Also, his younger brother, Abu Qudamma a-Dousi aka Razul (Rz-Raz38) is one of the recent British ISIS fighters also said to be under investigation in the Foley execution video.
Foley was kidnapped in November,2012, well before ISIS declared the caliphate. So how did ISIS get ahold of him and Steven Sotloff? ? Were they kidnapped by the group Dr Islam was working for and turned over to ISIS to use to threaten the U.S. on the airstrikes?
Regardless of who is in the video, or when Foley was actually beheaded (how long before the video was filmed), it's pretty clear someone higher up in ISIS ordered the execution and the video. Who's in charge of prisons in Raqqa and Aleppo? A man hired by al Baghdadi himself -- Amr al-Absi, also known as Abu al-Athir al-Shami. His story (and that of his murdered brother, Faras al Ibsi) is here and here. All these events, from Foley's kidnapping to the foreign recruits, have at least one thing in common: The Turkish border.
In addition to taking the Taqba air base, ISIS' recent attacks have increasingly focused on moving towards the Turkish borders. Not only is Turkey how the young recruits enter Syria, it is a major supply route for commericial goods.
"The Turkish border is the only way to smuggle oil, weapons and foreign fighters into [Iraq and Syria]," said Dr Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi expert on Isis. "If it's closed, it will cut three things: funding, an entrance for the foreign fighters and links to Europe which they are trying to open."
ISIS is not fighting Assad. It is trying to dominate the region to establish its Caliphate. There is a lot of speculation Assad has allowed ISIS to control Raqqa and Aleppo. Until this week, ISIS facilities weren't attacked by his planes. His attacks had been directed at the Free Syrian army which is trying to take him out, and which is now fighting both ISIS and Assad.
Instead of engaging in strikes in Syria as now being contemplated by Obama (following his approved surveillance flights) and which Assad is in agreement with if done with his approval, why not bypass him and focus on Turkey? The last person the U.S. should work with is Assad.
In any event, we shall soon learn who the masked man is in the Foley video. Maybe it's the rapper, maybe not. I won't be surprised if, as I've said before, and as more media reports now suggest, he was just a prop and not the person who executed Foley. While he and the cameraman may be accomplices who should be brought to justice, there's a much bigger picture to focus on.
