[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 1155-1156]
[From the U.S. 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 ridding 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

[[Page 1156]]

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 doers`'' and free our fellow Americans from this interminable 
nightmare.

                          ____________________