British hostage John Cantlie forced to criticise Obama's 'disappointingly predictable' strategy on ISIS and warns Western weapons will end up in jihadists' hands in shocking video

British ISIS hostage John Cantlie has appeared in a new propaganda video on behalf of the group, criticising President Barack Obama's 'disappointingly predictable' action against the militants.

Wearing an orange Guantanamo-style jumpsuit and speaking directly to the camera, Cantlie attacks the West's plans to use Iraqi troops and Syrian rebels to fight ISIS.

In forced speech, spoken as if reading from a script, Cantlie says organising the Iraqi army will take months, and describes the Free Syrian Army as 'undisciplined, corrupt and largely ineffective.'

Propaganda: A new video from ISIS has been posted online showing British hostage John Cantlie criticising Obama's military strategy for combating the terror group

Cantlie also says that arming the Syrian rebels with Western weapons is 'largely useless', because many are sold on the black market and end up in the hands of ISIS soldiers.

Speaking about U.S.-led airstrikes, Cantlie goes on to say: 'Air power is good at taking out specific targets but it is not much use a taking and holding ground.

 

'For that you need effective and disciplined troops and it is hard to see how this hotch-potch army with a long history of under performing is going to be any form of credible infantry. '

At the start of the footage, Cantlie, who was captured in 2012, describes himself as a long-term prisoner of the Islamic State and says he has been 'abandoned' by the British Government.

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Speech: In the footage Cantlie called Obama's rhetoric 'disappointingly predictable', and criticised the Free Syrian Army as being 'undisciplined, corrupt and largely ineffective'

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Territory: This map, which appears in the new John Cantlie video, shows where ISIS is operational. The dark pink streaks - largely centered around main roads in northern Syria and Iraq - show where ISIS maintains a presence, while the red dots show towns or cities currently under the group's control

It is the third time Cantlie - a photojournalist from Haslemere, Surrey - has appeared in an ISIS video. 

At the start of last week, another video was posted online in which Cantlie said Obama was being sucked into 'Gulf War Three'.

TIMELINE OF CANTLIE'S VIDEOS 

1) September 18: ISIS releases the first video of John Cantlie, entitled 'Lend Me Your Ears'. 

In it, he says there will be a series of clips explaining the Islamic State philosophy, and why attacking the group will not work. 

He also criticises the UK Government for 'abandoning' him, as it has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists.

The film, in marked contrast to previous grisly images showing beheading, is seen by many as an attempt to win over westerners.

2) September 23: In Cantlie's second video, he warns that attacking ISIS will create 'a new Vietnam' for the U.S. and Britain.

He warned that Obama was being sucked into a conflict he could not win, as George W Bush had been, and said the West was embarking on 'Gulf War Three'.

3) September 29: The third video focuses on Obama's speech on September 11, rebutting his criticisms of ISIS as un-Islamic and being 'without a clear vision'.

It also criticises America's strategy of using the Iraqi Army and Free Syrian Army to combat ISIS, saying the Iraqis will take months to train, while the FSA are 'undisciplined and corrupt'.

In the latest video, Cantlie again criticises Obama's decision to go to war - saying a new conflict will not make the West a safer place.

'If this reality was not changed by two arrogant wars before, why would a third change it now?' he says.

In the new film, Cantlie denies that ISIS has attacked 'innocents', saying the group did not kill Christian and Yazidi women and children at Mosul and Sinjar, calling it an 'undeniable fact'.

He goes on to say that ISIS militants do not kill Muslims either, as they regard Shias as 'worse than Americans... apostates claiming to be Muslims, while worshiping the dead.'

Finally, he describes Obama's speech on the anniversary of 9/11 as 'prideful chest banging' and 'disappointingly predictable', painting Americans as the 'good guys' whose job it is to save the world 'single-handedly'.

Cantlie then signs off, saying ISIS looks forward to 'meeting Obama's under-construction army' before adding 'join me again, for the next programme.'

In the first video, the photojournalist explained that he will be narrating a series of videos and seeking to explain ISIS's philosophy as well as explaining why fighting against the group will fail.

Cantlie appears sitting in a dark room behind a wooden desk similar to that seen in the first and second videos, while his beard and hair appear roughly the same length.

That means there was not much of a time gap between the two videos being shot, and raises the possibility that both could have been filmed on the same day.

The film also makes no reference to British or U.S. action in the Gulf over recent days.

As Cantlie references Obama's 9/11 speech, and a New York Times article written about it the following day, the video must have been filmed on September 12 at the earliest.

While analysts were able to gather information about Jihadi John from the backdrop of the execution videos - tracing his position to Raqqa, Syria -  there is no such information in Cantlie's film, as it is filmed against a black curtain in a basic studio.

However, the curious use of British English phrases such as 'ninnying about' and 'hotch-potch' may suggest that Cantlie had a role in writing or redrafting his speech - or it was at least in part written by a militant from the UK. 

Last night Foreign Office officials said they were aware of the video and were analysing the content.  

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Before: John Cantlie is pictured in London shortly before he travelled to Syria, where he was captured in November 2012 along with David Haines, who was beheaded by ISIS earlier this month

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Attack: John Cantlie also attacked Obama's address to the nation earlier this month, in which he said that ISIS was 'not Islamic', saying the President had resorted to 'prideful chest-banging'

The new footage emerged on the same day as the American military were criticised for killing two Syrian civilians when an airstrike hit a grain silo.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights believes aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base.

The US-led coalition has been targeting towns and villages in northern and eastern Syria controlled by the Islamic State group since last week.

Elsewhere it was reported that up to 1,000 Iraqi soldiers were killing fighting ISIS militants just one mile outside of Baghdad as the group push to take the country's capital.

ISIS have held a number of towns and villages close to the Iraqi capital since earlier in the year, when government troops melted away following a lightning advance in the west of the country - enabling the terrorist group to seize further swaths of territory for their so-called caliphate. 

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Condemned: John Cantlie called arming the Free Syrian Army (pictured) a 'largely pointless' move, claiming that many of the weapons were sold on to the black market and then bought by Islamic State

'IT WAS ALL DISAPPOINTINGLY PREDICABLE': CANTLIE STATEMENT IN FULL

Hello, I am John Cantlie, the British citizen abandoned by my government and a long-term prisoner of the Islamic State.

President Obama's address on the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks finally stopped all of the ninnying around and and laid down his four-stage strategy for confronting the Islamic State.

There were no big surprises. U.S. aircraft will provide the air power while a mix of Iraqi army and Iraqi national guard - not yet formed - peshmerga fighters and Iranians - not mentioned - will do the ground operations.

The borders between Iraq and Syria will be opened and Syrian rebels will be armed and all of this with only 475 U.S. advisory personnel doing the job, and not a single U.S. combat solider with his boot on the ground.

'We will be lead a broad coalition to roll back the Islamic State', said Obama. 'We are hitting ground targets while Iraqi forces go on the offense. I will not hesitate to take action against the Islamic State in Syria', he said. 

Now, when exactly Gulf War Three will start and how long it will take is not covered. 

U.S. advisors working with the Iraqi army have described their performance as 'consistently grim' while arming and training a effective national guard of supposed Sunni fighters in Western Iraq will take months to achieve.

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The video was presented in similar style to a news report, and have been compared to a 'lecture series' 

The Free Syrian Army have proved to be an undisciplined, corrupt and largely ineffective fighting force. As recently as September 11 a serving U.S. intelligence official said 'our intelligence assessment has no serious consideration to working with the FSA'.

Giving the FSA $500million now is a completely pointless exercise, never mind that fact that the FSA sells the weapons the West gives them to arms dealers and smugglers and much of it then ends up with the Islamic State.

Air power is good at taking out specific targets but it is not much use at taking and holding ground. For that you need effective and disciplined troops and it is hard to see how this hotch-potch army with a long history of under-performing is going to be any form of credible infantry.

After that speech Peter Baker of the New York Times observed that Obama is 'plunging the United States into one of the bloodiest, most vicious conflicts now in existence. He will hand his successor a volatile and incomplete war, much as his predecessor left one for him.'

Mr Baker goes on to comment that while previous presidents enjoyed a surge of public support when they took the nation to war, the public is not rallying behind Obama this time around.

Now polls indicate that while the American public support military action against Islamic State, they do not think that Obama is the man for the job.

Which goes a long way in explaining the simplistic language he used in his last speech. Obama was a pains to point out that 'groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm, that was the case before 9/11 and remains so today.'

If this reality was not changed by two arrogant wars before, why would a third change it now?

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John Cantlie also quoted U.S. advisors working with the Iraqi army, saying the performance of Iraq's troops had been 'consistently grim'

Obama described the Islamic State as 'not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of their victims have been Muslims. Islamic State has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in their way.'

Now if by innocents he means women and children, then the Islamic State did not kill the Christian and Yazidi women and children of Mosul and Sinjar. This is an undeniable fact. And they do not regard the Shias as Muslims at all.

In fact, according to them, the Shias are considered worse than Americans as they are apostates claiming to be Muslims while worshipping the dead.

And the Islamic State does have a vision. They have created an autonomous and functioning caliphate.

But expanding on the complex social and political issues of the region isn't going to work when it's war you want. And so the speech was full of hyperbole about how America was saving innocent men, women and children. 

'This is American leadership at its best,' said Obama. 'We stand with people who fight for their own freedom,' he said, before the speech descended into prideful chest-beating about how the U.S.A. always saves the world single-handedly.

It was all disappointingly predictable. America is good, the Islamic State is bad and they will be defeated using aircraft and a motley collection of fighters on the ground.

For their part the Islamic State say they welcome meeting Obama's under-construction army.

Join me again, for the next programme. DAILYMAIL.CO.UK