Thomas Wictor

The Islamic State has released a new video titled A Message to Jordan. It includes more footage of the purported burning alive of Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot Lieutenant Moath Youssef al-Kasasbeh, the subject of the film Healing the Believers’ Chests. The additional video proves without any doubt that while Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh was murdered, his death was not caused by fire.

I’ve found only one low-quality version of A Message to Jordan, but that doesn’t matter. The images don’t need to be high resolution. From the additional video we learn that there were multiple takes of the fake burning. The footage also gives us several seconds of unedited footage that allows us to know how long certain sequences lasted. It’s only when we see both Healing the Believers’ Chests and A Message to Jordan that we realize how transparently fraudulent this Islamic State propaganda venture is.

Looking at both films, we’re supposed to believe that nine cameras were used. A reminder: THE FLAMES ARE COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGERY (CGI). You are NOT seeing a man being burned to death.

Camera One.

Camera Two.

Camera Three.

Camera Four.

Camera Five.

Camera Six.

Camera Seven (handheld).

Camera Eight.

Camera Nine.

Initially it appears that Cameras Three and Six are the same, but the new footage shows us that the operator had less than four seconds to go from ground to head level. This is a stationary camera shooting perfectly composed video.

It could not have been repositioned in less than four seconds. The camera was raised during one of the many takes they shot.

Looking at Healing the Believers’ Chests with my new perspective, I now see that Camera Five shows that there were no Cameras Three and Six.

From this angle the cameras would’ve been visible on the right. The reason you can’t see them is that there weren’t nine cameras. There were probably no more than three.

Most of the new footage doesn’t match the original in any way. Only 1:21 to 1:27 of A Message to Jordan and 18:23 to 18:29 of Healing the Believers’ Chests are the same. The video that shows Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh collapsing to his knees indicates that two different takes were filmed.

A Message to Jordan is on the left, and Healing the Believers’ Chests is on the right. I synched the films by choosing the moment that Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh reaches for the cage bars.

On the left, he remains upright, while on the right he falls to his knees.

Left, upright. Right, kneeling.

Left, he kneels, but his head is held up, and his hands grip the bars in front of his face. Right, his head is hanging, and his right hand is far below face level.

Left, he falls back on his haunches but his head is still up. Right, he’s huddled in a ball.

Left, he begins to lower his head. Right, he curls up even more.

Left and right are finally the same.

However, in A Message to Jordan it took him three seconds to collapse to his knees (2:33 - 2:36), while in Healing the Believers’ Chests he fell in one second (18:44 - 18:45), despite the film being slowed for dramatic effect.

The footage of Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh on his knees provides more irrefutable evidence that two different takes were filmed. In Healing the Believers’ Chests, he grips one cage bar with his right hand, and then he moves it to a second bar. His hands are marked with blue arrows.

In his final position, he grips one bar with both hands.

A Message to Jordan shows Lieutenant al-Kasasbeh moving his right hand across three bars, not two.

Instead of gripping one bar with both hands in his final position, he holds two—one in each hand. He’s also putting his head outside the cage, through the space between Bar Three and Bar Four.

The fact that multiple takes were shot is absolute proof that both films are hoaxes. A man can be burned to death only once. And no, they didn’t immolate multiple people. The actions of the “burning victim” are too similar. He was following shouted directions.

Healing the Believers’ Chests shows how close the front-end loader was to the cage. On the right, you can see the rubble piled in the loader’s bucket.

This view of the cage in A Message to Jordan was shot from above the head of the tubby drama queen who “lit the trail of combustible material.”

I think the bucket of the front-end loader should be visible, but that’s rendered moot by a little metal rod seen in Healing the Believers’ Chests (red arrow).

That little rod is absent from A Message to Jordan (red arrow).

This is a classic continuity error, the kind that plagues all films.

That little metal rod proves once and for all that a burning filmed by multiple cameras did not take place. The scene was acted out, and several takes were shot. In all the confusion, everyone overlooked a short length of metal visible from one angle but not another.

A good production assistant (PA) keeps the continuity errors to a minimum. Hopefully both the director and PA of Healing the Believers’ Chests were fired. Out of a cannon. Against a cement wall.

The Islamic State has bought into its own mystique. This always happens when people have no limits placed on them. Years ago I heard the adage “You need fences to be free.” I didn’t understand what it meant. Now I do.

Everyone must accept their limitations. It’s the only way we’ll achieve happiness. As much as the Islamic State wants the world to submit, it’s a pipe dream. The Islamic State lacks the power, skills, and resources to make its wish come true. Terrorists always lose. They don’t grasp that, so they do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. “This time it’ll work!”

No. It’ll never work. Look what’s happening right this very second. The US is being run by children, so the adults have taken over. They’ll solve the problem.

And thanks to the Islamic State, we now know with absolute certainty that Lieutenant Moath Youssef al-Kasasbeh was not burned alive.