Freed Missionary Hails Indictments
By LIBBY QUAID=
Associated Press Writer=
WASHINGTON (AP) The Kansas missionary who survived 377 days of captivity in the Philippines jungle called the indictments of her kidnappers ``a positive first step'' toward justice.
Gracia Burnham met Wednesday with U.S. officials here and was to meet President Bush later in the day.
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 told reporters during a Capitol Hill news conference.
Burnham was wounded 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 are in custody.
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.
Visiting the nation's capital with her three children, her parents and her husband's parents, Burnham said, ``We're surrounded here by memorials to Americans who were willing to give their lives for what they believed, and I guess Martin was one of those Americans.''
``We miss him today,'' she added, her voice breaking. ``He would have loved this visit.''
Burnham is settling near Wichita, Kan., where her children lived for the past year with her in-laws, Paul and Oreta Burnham. She asked for time and space to grieve, to build a new life with her family and to write a book about her experience.
Her work as a missionary is ``in transit'' and will be set aside for now, she said, adding that her children ``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.