[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 12, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    TERRORISTS IN PHILIPPINES MUST RELEASE MARTIN AND GRACIA BURNHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TODD TIAHRT

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 12, 2002

  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 262nd day that Martin and 
Gracia Burnham have been held captive by Muslim terrorists in the 
Philippines.
  As we are riding Afghanistan of the notorious Taliban, let me 
introduce you to another organization that has been terrorizing the 
world and Americans since 1991.
  The Abu Sayaf group, known as the ASG, is the smallest yet most 
radical of the Islamic separatist groups operating in the Southern 
Philippines. They have known ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda 
organization. Some ASG members have studied or worked in the Middle 
East and developed ties to mujahidin while fighting and training in 
Afghanistan. Activities of the group include bombings, assassinations, 
kidnapings and extortion payments to promote an independent Islamic 
state in the Southern Philippines.
  ASG has been blazing a bloody trail of murders, abductions, rapes, 
mutilations, arsons, and other heinous crimes that is possible to match 
in terms of callous cruelty. I am pleased that we have sent troops to 
the Philippines who will advise their military. Together with the 
Philippine government we have an obligation to rid the world of these 
``evil does`'' and free our fellow Americans from this interminable 
nightmare.




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