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 : former US hostage
WASHINGTON, July 23 (AFP) - The widow of a US missionary killed when Philippine troops launched a bid to rescue her and her husband from Muslim guerrillas said Wednesday the group must pay for its crimes, after meeting President George W. Bush.
Gracia Burnham, who survived the rescue attempt, said at the White House that the Abu Sayyaf group which held her and her husband Martin for a year must face justice.
"They are criminals and deserve to be punished," said a composed but solemn Burnham, when asked by reporters about Abu Sayyaf, which is reportedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
She said that Bush had been very sympathetic to her plight, and had assured her he would keep up the fight against global terrorism "to make the world a better place for our children."
The Burnham's ordeal ended last month when the military mounted a rescue attempt in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte.
Martin Burnham and a Filipina hostage, Ediborah Yap, were killed and Gracia Burnham was wounded but rescued in the operation.
The Abu Sayyaf have a track record for kidnapping foreigners and Christians in the southern Philippines before demanding huge ransoms for their release.
The leaders of the Abu Sayyaf remain at large and are the subject of massive military operations in three southern Philippine provinces.
Over a thousand US troops have been training Philippine forces in anti-terror tactics but have been barred from taking part in actual combat except in self-defense.
Kansas Missionary Meets With Bush
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Kansas missionary who survived 377 days of captivity in the Philippines jungle said Wednesday that indictments of her kidnappers "a positive first step" toward justice.
Gracia Burnham, who met with President Bush at the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, said Bush is battling her captors and other terrorists to make the world safer for her children.
"He just told us that they were going to continue this fight," she said. "I agree wholeheartedly with everything that he said."
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush wanted to offer comfort, condolences and thanks to the Burnham family.
"She has been a marvelously strong and optimistic woman with a wonderful, upbeat outlook," Fleischer said. "I think the president's going to enjoy just putting his arm around her, spending some time with her."
She and her husband, Martin, and a Filipino nurse were the last hostages held by the Muslim separatist group Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders were indicted Tuesday.
"The men who abducted us and held us, who murdered some and mistreated others, who kept us running and starving in the jungle, are criminals and deserve to be punished," Burnham said seeing the president.
Burnham was shot in the thigh in the military rescue operation last month that killed her husband and nurse Ediborah Yap. Considered a top target in the United States' war against terrorism, Abu Sayyaf is said to have ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
Five alleged leaders of Abu Sayyaf are under U.S. indictment, although none is in custody. Burnham said the indictments make her "hopeful that it is a positive first step toward bringing them to justice."
Her husband was kind to their captors, thanking them and wishing them a good evening each night as they chained him to a tree, Burnham said.
"But even though Martin was kind to them, we never forgot who the good guys were and who the bad guys were," she said.
Her work as a missionary is "in transit" and will be set aside for now, she said, adding that her children -- ages 11, 12 and 15 -- "have changed drastically" in the year since she and her husband were abducted from the resort where they were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary.
"My mission is going to be to raise three neat kids; they need a full-time parent, and I'm it," she said.
