Mother of James Foley 'Embarassed, Appalled' With U.S. Government

The mother of James Foley, the journalist recently beheaded by the Islamic State in Syria, expressed her disappointment in the U.S. government in an interview that aired in full on Thursday evening.

In the interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Diana Foley says the U.S. government "should learn from its mistakes" regarding hostage situations in the Middle East.

"As an American I was embarrassed and appalled. I think our efforts to get Jim freed were an annoyance [to the government]," Diana said. 

"It didn't seem in our strategic interests [to free Jim]," Diana continued, adding that her son "would have been saddened. Jim believed to the end that his country would come to their aid. We were asked to not go to the media, to just trust that it would be taken care of. We were told that we could not raise ransom, that it was illegal and that we might be prosecuted."

"We were told that our government would not exchange prisoners, would not do a military action," Foley said. "We were just told to trust that he would be freed, somehow, miraculously, and he wasn't, was he?"

"I pray that our government would learn from the mistakes it's made," Diana added.

James Foley was one of two American journalists recently beheaded by the Islamic State in videos uploaded to the internet. Another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, was also beheaded. The terrorist organization claimed in its videos that it was committing the barbaric act as retribution for U.S. airstrikes in Iraq.