BRIAN ROSS REPORTS
Stray Guns in Baghdad
For McCain, Another Problem FundraiserTOP BLOTTER CATEGORIES
- Abramoff Lobbying Scandal
- American Al Qaeda
- Avian Flu
- Beirut Hospital Out of Gas
- CIA
- CIA Secret Prisons
- D.C. Madam Affair
- FBI
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Homeland Security
- Hurricane Katrina
- Mark Foley Internet Scandal
- Millionaire Sex Scandal
- Nigerian E-mail Scams
- Norman Hsu, Clinton Fundraiser
- NSA: Wiretapping
- Osama bin Laden
- Payola
- Pharmacy Investigation
- Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
- Terror
- U.K. Airline Terror Plot
- U.K. Bombing Attempts
- Wen Ho Lee
- William Jefferson
- Zarqawi
Kidnapping Victim Relieved at Death of Philippine Terror Leader
Email
Print
ShareJanuary 17, 2007 3:40 PM
Gracia Burnham and her husband Martin, missionaries from Wichita, Kan., were kidnapped in the Philippines and held for more than a year by the Abu Sayyef terrorist group. Martin was killed in the rescue attempt. Today, Gracia Burnham expressed relief and happiness at the news that Abu Sayyef's leader, Abu Sulaiman, was killed yesterday in a gun battle with the Philippine Army.
"I'm glad they finally got him," Burnham said, "and that is an unusual thing for me to say."
Burnham heard the news early this morning. Sulaiman is the 4th leader of Abu Sayyef, an al Qaeda-linked terror group, to be killed since she was rescued. She said that when she heard the news of the other deaths, she felt a sense of sadness but not this time.
THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS
"He was the most dangerous of the group," she said. "His dream was to go to the United States and 'wreak some havoc,' that's what he said," remembered Burnham.
After her rescue, Burnham was debriefed by the U.S., and she warned officials from the State Department that Sulaiman was the person on which they needed to focus. She and Martin spent their year-plus of captivity in the jungle sleeping just a few hammocks away from Sulaiman every night.
Click Here for More Blotter Coverage.
"He had a deep-seated hatred and bitterness towards the West," she said. "He also had this arrogance that he may someday do harm to the U.S."
The Burnhams were in captivity on Sept. 11, 2001, when Sulaiman called Martin over to his hammock to listen to the radio as the news of the attacks on the World Trade Center was breaking.
"He was just so happy," Gracia says Martin relayed to her.
The Burnhams were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary on a trip to a tropical resort when they were kidnapped in 2001. Today she is celebrating her birthday with her children.
"I feel like God has not forgotten me today," she said. "This is a decided victory, but the war is not over."
January 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)
I can't put my finger on it, but this story seems heavily engineered.
Posted by: deeb | Jan 18, 2007 4:02:34 AM
Sulaiman was wanted for a long time; he finally got killed, and the story here is that a fomer victim of his was relieved to hear of his death. This story is as engineered as a sunset...
Posted by: jazz | Jan 18, 2007 2:38:12 PM
Sulaiman not only kidnapped foreigners and beheaded Sobero an American citizen but he also kidnapped other filipinos especially in Lamitan, Basilan. This is not engineered at all. He was a very dangerous man that spread havoc especially in the southern part of the Philippines. He was the mastermind in the bombing of a passenger ship in the Philippines that killed over 169 people. Sulaiman is an engineer by profession, went to Saudi Arabia for a few years then joined the Al Qeada. When he went back in the Philippines, he joined the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Posted by: leslie | Jan 19, 2007 3:57:02 PM
Pray tell, how is a sunset engineered?
Posted by: david | Jan 19, 2007 5:11:14 PM
Obviously the 1st two comments are from typical liberals that cannot and will not understand the simple basics of right and wrong
Posted by: steve | Jan 19, 2007 5:30:22 PM
I don't think that second comment "as engneered as a sunset" is from a liberal perspective. That was just a touch of wry sarcasm in response to the first post. At least that's how I understood it.
I've read Gracia Burnham's book "In the Presence of My Enemies" I highly recommend it although even black and white facts sometimes fail to sway some people. But conservatives and liberals alike should be appalled at the kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment of Americans. Or of anyone for that matter.
Posted by: mb | Jan 21, 2007 4:38:09 PM
I'm pretty sure that being as "engineered as a sunset" is sarcastic, and an attempt to show how ridiculous it sounds to say that the article was "engineered". As for me, I'm thrilled that someone got rid of this man- he was a threat to international security.
Posted by: AFSister | Jan 22, 2007 8:42:00 AM
Don't start with this "liberal" stuff. If anybody cannot tell right from wrong - it's right-wing losers such as yourself. Look at the condition of the world and tell me "it's all the liberal's fault!" Yeah, right! And just who did you vote for?? You right-wing idiots stand for everything that is absolutely wrong, not only in the U.S. but all over the world - it's sickening!
Posted by: extreme | Jan 22, 2007 1:23:07 PM
If this was a story about puppies and ice cream you silly people would still post comments blaming liberals/republicans/bush/clinton etc..
Posted by: UpDownRightLeft | Jan 22, 2007 4:10:48 PM
Even killings are now shown as fairy-tale-justice such as the evil die and one should rejoice over it!!
our Muslim names are being used for terrorists same as the Russian and eastern european names were used back in the cold-war days ...Just proves what a farce this western news media creates to influence others minds by projecting their selective morality ...
'Yeh! Yeh! Go on preach me a sermon Pablo!'
from the western The Good The Bad and The Ugly is a fitting answer to this anti- terrorist(?) media news
Posted by: another12many | Jan 24, 2007 2:19:33 AM
Post a comment
