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Held hostage for 376 days by the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Gracia Burnham doesn't seem to tire of recounting the time she and her husband spent in the jungle with their kidnappers. It was the last year of her husband's life. Burnham conducted a three-day lecture series this week at Southeastern Bible College, discussing mission work, terrorism and her personal experiences. "I've been surprised our story keeps enduring," She wrote a best-selling book about her experiences, called "In the Presence of My Enemies," after she was rescued on June 7, 2002. Both she and her husband,...

WASHINGTON - The United States played a crucial but almost "invisible" role in finding and killing Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya by using a tracking device sewn into his backpack's fabric and plotting his movements with unmanned Predators and high-flying surveillance aircraft, The Atlantic magazine reported.In an article in its March issue, the magazine said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US military targeted Sabaya, whose real name was Aldam Tilao, and his group after they kidnapped American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and another American Guillermo Sobero in May 2001 holding them for ransom. “His removal by Philippine...

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq. An eight-page fax dated June 6, 2001, and sent from the Iraqi ambassador in Manila to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, provides an update on Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and indicates that the Iraqi regime was providing the group with money to purchase weapons. The Iraqi regime suspended its support--temporarily, it seems--after high-profile kidnappings, including of Americans, focused international attention on the terrorist group. The...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version April 10, 2006, 7:27 a.m. Connections Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again. With conservative congressional majorities at risk in next November's midterm election, President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that a key reason Coalition troops invaded Iraq was to padlock Saddam Hussein's Wal-Mart for terrorists. Pressured by congressmen and journalists, the administration finally has started releasing intelligence documents captured in Baghdad. These papers confirm what The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, Wall Street Journal editorialists, and I have demonstrated for years: Saddam Hussein indeed was entwined with terrorists in general...

U.S. WELCOMES CONVICTION OF 17 ABU SAYYAF BANDITS MANILA, August 18 , 2004 (STAR) By Marvin Sy - The United States has welcomed the conviction of 17 Abu Sayyaf bandits who kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists from a resort off Palawan three years ago. All 17 were sentenced to death on Aug. 13 for kidnapping nurses from a church-hospital compound in Lamitan, Basilan in June 2001. Four of them, who remained at large, were sentenced in absentia. In a statement, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said his government has lauded the effort of the Philippines in fighting terrorism...

Feds Charge 5 in Missionary's Death By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON= Associated Press Writer= WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department announced indictments Tuesday against five alleged leaders of the Muslim separatist group Abu Sayyaf for a kidnapping spree that led to the death of an American missionary and several others in the Philippines. None of the five men indicted were in custody, Department officials said. But the indictment details the command structure of a group that the United States considers a top target in its war against terrorism. It also gives U.S. authorities the grounds upon which to seek extradition of the men...

Jewish World Review June 11, 2002 / 1 Tamuz, 5762 Cal Thomas Free at last http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Islamic guerillas in the Philippines appear to have profiled Martin Burnham and his wife, Gracia. The missionaries were kidnapped more than a year ago because they were Christians and Americans. They were held hostage because their captors hoped to win political concessions from the Philippine government that would ultimately lead to their goal of establishing a Muslim state. Burnham, 42, died Friday (June 7) in a shootout between government troops and the Muslim separatists, Gracia, 43, was wounded but is reported out of...

Click on the link to find an obituary on Martin as well as links to send condolences and other helpful information about the Burnhams.