Free Republic

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...

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...

ZAMBOANGA -- Government troops have arrested an alleged Abu Sayyaf leader linked to the abduction of three American tourists in the southern Philippines, the military said Thursday. Usman Lijal and a bodyguard were detained in a raid of his hideout at a Muslim community on the outskirts of this southern city late Wednesday, said Major General Trifonio Salazar, head of the Army's First Infantry Division. The raiders also seized weapons from the house, where at least one other suspect escaped, the general told reporters. "We finally got him," Salazar said. "It's the result of a long surveillance operation that...

Gracia busy as book release date approaches SANFORD, Florida (April 30, 2003): With the official release of Gracia Burnham's book set for next week, many interviews, reviews and features are scheduled. In the Presence of My Enemies, which she co-wrote with Dean Merrill, is to be officially released May 4, and is already available in some bookstores. Several broadcast interviews are scheduled: * NBC's Today Show on May 2 is to feature excerpts from Katie Couric's Dateline NBC interview with Gracia. * Dateline NBC on May 4 is to air a one-hour special on Gracia's story. * MSNBC and CNBC...

Gracia Burnham's book is available from New Tribes Mission at a discount from what it will retail for. Here's the website. http://www.ntm.org/connect/burnham/update.shtml For those of you who may not know, Gracia and her husband Martin were held by Abu Sayyaf terrorists for over a year. Martin was killed in the ambush as well as a Filipina nurse, Deborah Yap. Gracia had a bullet through her thigh. This story is about their year in captivity.

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Dec 06, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Soldiers have captured a suspected Muslim extremist who was allegedly involved in the kidnapping and beheading of an American hostage last year in the southern Philippines, an army commander said Saturday. Abu Baidar, alleged member of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf, was captured Friday in a remote village on Basilan island after residents tipped off the military to his presence, Basilan army commander Col. Bonifacio Ramos said. Ramos said Baidar is suspected of taking part in the raid on the Dos Palmas resort in May 2001 when the Abu...

Abu Sabaya still alive, says priest ABU SABAYA is alive. He was sighted a day after Malacañang trumpeted his demise in June throwing a party in Tuburan municipality in Basilan province. He had good reason to celebrate: He is "alive and the group is intact." Fr. Cirilo Nacorda made this disclosure Thursday to the INQUIRER before he spoke before the Rotary Club of Manila at the Manila Hotel. During the open forum following his speech, Nacorda, who’s the parish priest of St. Peter Parish in Lamitan, Basilan, repeated that Sabaya was alive. Nacorda said that Sabaya’s group was "possibly"...

Settling in SANFORD, Florida (Aug. 1, 2002): After a memorable time in Washington, DC, the Burnham family is settling into life in Rose Hill, Kansas. While Gracia and her children, and Paul and Oreta Burnham, were on their trip to the nation's Capitol, family and friends in Rose Hill decided to prepare a surprise -- turning the house that has been temporarily provided for Gracia into a "home." They found and arranged furniture and kitchen items, then added other welcoming touches. And Rose Hill Bible Church organized a food drive. The surprise worked. Teresa Burnham, Gracia's sister-in-law, wrote, "It was...

Rumors persist that Abu Sayyaf leader, believed killed in clash at sea, still alive MANILA, Philippines, Aug 01, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A top Philippine general says he'll bet a month's salary that a notorious Muslim guerrilla leader died in a bloody sea skirmish six weeks ago. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo says she's convinced, too. Even so, rumors persist that Sabaya - blamed for leading a yearlong kidnapping spree that left two Americans and 18 Filipinos dead - survived. Some say he is still with the Abu Sayyaf, a criminal Islamic gang linked to the al-Qaida terror...

President Bush hugs Oreta Burnham, mother of slain missionary Martin Burnham, during a meeting with Gracia Burnham, second right, and her family in the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday, July 24, 2002. Missionaries from Kansas, Gracia Burnham and her husband, Martin, were held captive by Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the Philippines for more than a year before Mr. Burnham was killed during their rescue in June. Accompanying Gracia Burnham were her parents and children, Melinda Joy, 12, far left, Jeffrey Paul, 15, far right. (AP Photo/Paul Morse, White House) Abu Sayyaf must pay for my husband's death...

WASHINGTON – The United States Tuesday charged leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Filipino guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf in the kidnappings of three US nationals that led to the deaths of two of them. The federal charges against five suspected guerrilla leaders were announced by Larry Thompson, the deputy US attorney general, and built on an indictment filed by a federal grand jury in February. "The indictment charges the five named defendants with conspiracy resulting in death, hostage-taking and three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death," Thompson said. Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries from Kansas who had lived in the Philippines...

Macapagal calls off search for Sabaya body PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday ordered troops to 'call-off' the search for Abu Sabaya's body, saying they should concentrate on the manhunt for Abu Sayyaf leaders who are still alive. "The 50 thousand-peso reward is there for the fishermen to look for him and if the Navy seals of the US will be made available, then let's have a smaller unit of ours so it's not all being done by the Americans alone," Ms Macapagal said in a speech aired over the state-owned Radyo ng Bayan. "But I think the bulk of...

'Dead' Abu Sayyaf leader seen on Basilan Mounting doubts over Friday's reported killing of Abu Sabaya by Philippines special forces as body is still not found MANILA - Scepticism deepened yesterday over reports that Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya was killed in a clash with troops, as a military search for his body entered the third day. Mounting doubts were aired in the local media and coincided with a reported sighting in the southern town of Maluso on Basilan island, a known stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-linked group. A military source claimed the bandit - who has a US$5-million (S$8.9...

ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Abu Sabaya ordered his men to shoot dead American hostage Martin Burnham if soldiers got too close, a captured Abu Sayyaf bandit was quoted on Sunday as saying. Toto Aluk, also known as "Ayub," was shown on videotape taken by the military saying that Sabaya, the Abu Sayyaf spokesperson who was believed killed in a gun battle on Friday, issued the order to kill Martin Burnham. The US missionary, who was seized at Palawan’s Dos Palmas Resort and held hostage for about a year, was killed in a military rescue operation in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte,...

ZAMBOANGA CITY - A three-engine speedboat that Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya had used to seize American hostages in Palawan was the same boat that government forces used Friday to pursue and "kill" him off the coast of Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte. The Philippine Navy recovered the speedboat last year in Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi, a transit point for the bandits who proceeded to Basilan from Puerto Princesa, Palawan, after seizing 20 hostages, including American couple Gracia and Martin Burnham. Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, chief of the military's Southern Command, said he was sure that Sabaya was dead. "I don't...

(First of two parts) ZAMBOANGA CITY--When the Scout Rangers finally caught up with the Abu Sayyaf bandits guarding hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham and Edibora Yap, the soldiers opened fire even without a "visual" of the hostages, the Inquirer learned over the weekend. But the "disoriented" bandits returned fire "indiscriminately" with automatic weapons and M203s, the company commander in charge of the operation said. "I'm convinced it was not us who killed them," said 1st Lt. Oliver Almonares, who gave the order to the 15th Scout Ranger Company to engage the bandits on the fateful afternoon of June 7....

FINAL SCORE We all know Martin and Gracia, even if we have never met. They were on our radios, church prayer requests, on our TV sets. I remember that famous video, in my mind it's still planted. All Gracia wanted was privacy, things I take for granted. We all could probably confess, we never seem content, That little short video changed my life, you cannot know what it meant. All this was no accident, this last year fits God's plan, While we were in our comfort zone, The Burnhams hid and ran. But Gracia let me tell you, through all...

Jody, as Field Chairman of NTM in the Philippines was among the first people to get to visit with Gracia at the hospital she was evacuated to. The following is from him: Following is a testimony that I shared this morning here in Manila at ourlocal church, Christ Commission Fellowship. Jody Crain > Philippians 1:10-14 "I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns. "May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation -- those good things that are produced in your life by Jesus Christ --...

AND NOW there are only nine. The number of Abu Sayyaf bandits, who guarded Martin and Gracia Burnham and Ediborah Yap in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte, has dropped to less than 10 following the capture of an alleged bodyguard of Abu Sabaya, Abu Sayyaf’s spokesperson. Basir Ordoñez was captured in Barangay Culasian, a half kilometer from the site of Friday’s encounter that resulted in the deaths of hostages Martin Burnham and Ediborah Yap, police announced Tuesday. Senior Supt. Leonardo Espina, national police spokesperson, said elements of the 6th Scout Rangers Company arrested Ordoñez Tuesday morning. No firearm was recovered...

June 11, 2002 Gracia flies out ofRP, calls for justice MANILA -- US missionary Gracia Burnham, widowed at the end of a year-long hostage ordeal, urged the Philippines Monday to bring to justice her rebel captors as she flew home to be reunited with her three children. Wheel-chair bound and with her right leg heavily bandaged due to a bullet wound, she made a short, emotional statement at Manila airport in her first public appearance since Friday's bloody rescue attempt in which her husband Martin and a Filipina hostage were killed. Manila has insisted that the rescue attempt in...