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Held hostage for 376 days by the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Gracia Burnham doesn't seem to tire of recounting the time she and her husband spent in the jungle with their kidnappers. It was the last year of her husband's life. Burnham conducted a three-day lecture series this week at Southeastern Bible College, discussing mission work, terrorism and her personal experiences. "I've been surprised our story keeps enduring," She wrote a best-selling book about her experiences, called "In the Presence of My Enemies," after she was rescued on June 7, 2002. Both she and her husband,...

WASHINGTON - The United States played a crucial but almost "invisible" role in finding and killing Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya by using a tracking device sewn into his backpack's fabric and plotting his movements with unmanned Predators and high-flying surveillance aircraft, The Atlantic magazine reported.In an article in its March issue, the magazine said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US military targeted Sabaya, whose real name was Aldam Tilao, and his group after they kidnapped American missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham and another American Guillermo Sobero in May 2001 holding them for ransom. “His removal by Philippine...

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq. An eight-page fax dated June 6, 2001, and sent from the Iraqi ambassador in Manila to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, provides an update on Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and indicates that the Iraqi regime was providing the group with money to purchase weapons. The Iraqi regime suspended its support--temporarily, it seems--after high-profile kidnappings, including of Americans, focused international attention on the terrorist group. The...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version April 10, 2006, 7:27 a.m. Connections Papers reveal Iraq-al Qaeda ties — again. With conservative congressional majorities at risk in next November's midterm election, President Bush repeatedly should remind everyone that a key reason Coalition troops invaded Iraq was to padlock Saddam Hussein's Wal-Mart for terrorists. Pressured by congressmen and journalists, the administration finally has started releasing intelligence documents captured in Baghdad. These papers confirm what The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, Wall Street Journal editorialists, and I have demonstrated for years: Saddam Hussein indeed was entwined with terrorists in general...

MANILA (AFP) - Jailed Al-Qaeda-linked militants remain holed up in a maximum-security Philippines prison after overpowering guards in a bloody escape attempt that has left up to six people dead in a shootout. Hundreds of snipers and police special forces units have surrounded a group of armed militants on an upstairs floor of the Camp Bagong Diwa jail and are awaiting orders to storm the building, police said. The militants overpowered the guards and seized three of their guns during a routine early morning headcount of the 435 inmates, who include 129 members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Muslim Abu Sayyaf gang...

Gracia Burnham's book is available from New Tribes Mission at a discount from what it will retail for. Here's the website. http://www.ntm.org/connect/burnham/update.shtml For those of you who may not know, Gracia and her husband Martin were held by Abu Sayyaf terrorists for over a year. Martin was killed in the ambush as well as a Filipina nurse, Deborah Yap. Gracia had a bullet through her thigh. This story is about their year in captivity.

Gracia busy as book release date approaches SANFORD, Florida (April 30, 2003): With the official release of Gracia Burnham's book set for next week, many interviews, reviews and features are scheduled. In the Presence of My Enemies, which she co-wrote with Dean Merrill, is to be officially released May 4, and is already available in some bookstores. Several broadcast interviews are scheduled: * NBC's Today Show on May 2 is to feature excerpts from Katie Couric's Dateline NBC interview with Gracia. * Dateline NBC on May 4 is to air a one-hour special on Gracia's story. * MSNBC and CNBC...

Feds Charge 5 in Missionary's Death By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON= Associated Press Writer= WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department announced indictments Tuesday against five alleged leaders of the Muslim separatist group Abu Sayyaf for a kidnapping spree that led to the death of an American missionary and several others in the Philippines. None of the five men indicted were in custody, Department officials said. But the indictment details the command structure of a group that the United States considers a top target in its war against terrorism. It also gives U.S. authorities the grounds upon which to seek extradition of the men...

Click the link above for the Yahoo photos of Gracia coming home...I don't know how to post photos - but if someone would be so kind as to tell me how, I'd be very grateful! :-)

SANFORD, Florida (June 10, 2002): In an interview given just before she boarded a plane to return to the US, Gracia Burnham gave the following message for those who have been praying for Martin and her: "We want to thank each and every one of you for every time you remembered us in prayer. We needed every single prayer you said for us during our ordeal in the jungle." She also thanked the military men who risked their lives to rescue her and Martin. One of those who was with Gracia the day after her rescue said this about her....