WASHINGTON -- The campaign of the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in New Mexico is defending an ad it released Monday that uses an image of the gruesome execution of James Foley, an American journalist. Foley was beheaded in northern Iraq last week by a member of the Islamic State, the terrorist group formerly known as ISIS.
The campaign ad released by Allen Weh, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Colonel running a longshot campaign against Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), features an image of Foley's masked executioner at the 32-second mark, along with other dramatic images from the Middle East. The ad debuted less than a week after a cousin of Foley's pleaded with the public not to view or forward the video.
"Please honor James Foley and respect my family’s privacy," Kelly Foley tweeted after it surfaced. "Don't watch the video. Don't share it. That's not how life should be."
Asked if the Weh campaign considered the Foleys' request before deciding to use the footage, a spokeswoman told The Huffington Post that the ad did not defy the family's wishes because it only showed Foley's executioner -- an as-yet-unidentified man with a British accent -- and not Foley himself.
"It's not Foley, it's the man who killed him," the spokeswoman said.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is backing Weh, did not respond Monday when asked if the group would stand by the ad.
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