Jihadi John is just one of the many heads of the ISIS hydra. At Friday's Forum on World Affairs, Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commanding officer over U.S. Central Command, the body responsible for controlling the U.S. military operations in the Middle East, appeared reasonably certain that the terrorist leader had been killed by a U.S. hellfire missile.
"We haven't really confirmed whether or not we got him, but I feel pretty good about it," Austin said at the forum on Friday. The room of Auburn students and faculty burst into applause following his statement. "I feel pretty good about this one. We'll see how it plays out."
Mohammed Emwazi, the British citizen who became known as Jihadi John, was the man in front of the camera during the ISIS executions of several journalists who were working in Syria to bring light to the seemingly constant human tragedy there.
Emwazi's vehicle was reportedly hit by a U.S. missile launched from a drone the afternoon of Nov. 12. U.S. officials have confirmed the missile killed all who were inside the vehicle, but could not yet officially verify whether Emwazi was still inside the vehicle.
Austin and U.S. Representative Martha Roby were panelists at a Forum on World Affairs hosted in conjunction by the political science department and the College of Liberal Arts.
Roby is the U.S. Representative for Alabama's second congressional district and a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Both Roby and Austin received masters degrees in education from Auburn University.
The forum discussion centered around the instability in Iraq and Syria due to the rise of the Islamic State, the constant state of chaos in the Middle East as a whole and what the U.S. is doing to combat those issues.
"(The instability) goes back thousands and thousands of years," Roby said. "My role is to make sure that we are giving our commanders, Gen. Austin, the tools he needs to overcome it."
A decline in forceful American leadership in the region has caused the area to decline into turmoil, according to Roby.
"What's happening around the world is that it's becoming more dangerous, not less," Roby said. "There has been a vacuum of American leadership, and when there's a vacuum, someone is going to step up to fill it."
Iran and ISIS have filled the hole left by a declining U.S. presence in Iraq, according to Roby. The U.S. combat mission in Iraq ended in August 2010, yet the military retains a train and assist role in the country.
"We will win," Austin said.
Roaring applause again followed the general's words.
"There needs to be a political solution to the problem of Assad and the government of Syria," Austin said. "There is a lot of speculation about whether or not we can remove Assad from power. We can do that. Your United States military can do anything. The question we need to ask ourselves is what happens after we do that."
The U.S. has refrained from deposing Assad because of reservations about the stability of the government that would follow.
"It's encouraging to see that our leadership is working with our western european allies and some of those in the region to really get after a political solution," Austin said.
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