The recent murders of two American journalists have started a debate about the U.S. policy refusal to pay ransoms to terrorists into the spotlight.

The U.S. has a standing policy of not negotiating or paying ransom to terrorists, but Europe has been allegedly doing so, Al-Jazeera reports.

But both strategies, by the U.S. and Europe, yield useful results for the terrorists.

The Europeans paying ransoms help fund the organizations, which has raked in millions in recent years.

"Simply put, kidnapping for ransom has become today's most significant source of terrorist financing because it has proven itself a frighteningly successful tactic," said David S. Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, according to Al-Jazeera. "Any payment of ransom provides an incentive for further kidnapping operations. Each transaction encourages another transaction."

The New York Times reported that terrorist have received at least $125 million in revenue since 2998 from kidnappings, and $66 million was paid last year, Al-Jazeera reported.

But the terrorists have found a use for the U.S. strategy of not paying -- as was recently displayed in the videos of James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were killed by Islamic State militants.

In the videos, both victims were forced to read aloud threats and propaganda.

Before being killed, according to the Daily Mail, Sotloff said, "Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for preservation of American lives and interests, so why is it that I am paying the price of your interference with my life?"

Similarly, Foley was also made to say things that appeared to be terrorist propaganda to create sympathy for the victim and anger towards the U.S.

"For what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality. I wish I had more time. I wish I could have the hope of freedom of seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn't American." Foley said in the video, ABC News reported, according to WCVB.

And while the deaths could be prevented with money, unlike the Europeans, the American government has not participated in a flip-flop policy.

Former U.S. diplomat Vicki Huddleston told the New York Times, according to Al-Jazeera, "The Europeans have a lot to answer for. It's a completely two-faced policy. They pay ransoms and then deny any was paid."