Barak Barfi, a research fellow at the New America Foundation and a friend of Steven Sotloff, the second American journalist beheaded by ISIL, made a serious allegation this week: “We believe that the so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support, one of them sold [Sotloff] probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to [ISIL]. And that was the reason that he was captured.” Recall that in the early days of Syria’s civil war, there were many who wanted the U.S. to arm and support the Free Syrian Army and other “moderate” rebel forces against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. We warned that, while Assad is definitely a bad guy, his replacement may be worse. Indeed, ISIL is now the most powerful anti-Assad group. Perhaps things would have been different with early and vigorous U.S. support, but we don’t think so. Jihadis have a way of co-opting insurgencies for their own ends. More…