Back Friday, Aug. 8 Iraq The U.S. military began carrying out air attacks on Islamic State targets in lraq, less than 12 hours after President Obama announced he was authorizing limited action to protect U.S. personnel in the country(see p. 36). As Obama left for a two-week vacation, Iraq's new president, Fouad Massoum, named Haider Al-Abadi to replace Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who on Aug. 14 agreed to step down. On Aug. 19, Islamic State terrorists beheaded American freelance journalist James Foley in what they said was retaliation for the U.S. air strikes and threatened to kill kidnapped Ankerican Journalist Steven Sotloff if the strikes didn't stop.