[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 19 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S1347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ABDUCTION AND DEATH OF DANIEL PEARL

  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, the shock of September 11 has been 
replaced with a focus on rebuilding and recovery, but the abduction and 
death of Daniel Pearl remind us that cold-blooded terrorism continues 
and that its casualties are too often innocent individuals: moms, dads, 
sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, and children.
  A writer for The Wall Street Journal since 1990, Daniel Pearl, was 
abducted in Karachi, Pakistan on January 23, while going, he thought, 
to conduct an interview about the Islamic militant underground. Instead 
of being granted that interview, Mr. Pearl was abducted, and it is now 
clear that his kidnappers intended all along to kill him, in the most 
horrifying fashion.
  Born in Princeton, NJ, Daniel Pearl moved as a young man with his 
family to California's San Fernando Valley, where his parents still 
reside. He attended Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, and went onto 
Stanford University where he graduated with a degree in Communications.
  Journalism was clearly his calling, and he returned to the northeast 
to begin his career. Following a stint with a newspaper in 
Massachusetts, he joined the staff of The Wall Street Journal. Over the 
next decade, he would see the world, beginning with postings in Atlanta 
and Washington, and later in London and Paris.
  Wherever he went, people were drawn to and delighted by Daniel Pearl. 
His warmth and wit, his kindness and intelligence, defined him as a 
person and were gifts that he shared generally with those around him.
  I offer my deepest condolences to Daniel Pearl's wife Mariane, 7 
months pregnant with their first child; to his parents Dr. Yehuda and 
Ruth Pearl, and to his sisters Tamara and Michelle, who describe their 
brother, son and husband as ``such a gentle soul . . . the musician, 
the writer, the storyteller, the bridge builder.''
  Their courage and dignity in the face of this tragic loss is nothing 
short of inspirational, and my heart goes out to them.
  It is time for the terrorism to stop. In the name of Daniel Pearl and 
the other innocent victims, we must seek to understand the roots of 
terrorism in the world and bring to an end the ever-escalating cycle of 
violence.

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