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| Southeast Asia |
| Two hostages die, another rescued in Philippines |
| 2002-06-07 |
| U.S.-trained troops raided a Philippine hideout on Friday to end a year-long hostage crisis, freeing one American but triggering a gunfight that killed her husband. A third captive also was reported shot, but soldiers on the scene said they had not found her body. Ouch. That's too bad... Martin Burnham, a missionary from Wichita, Kan., was killed by a gunshot during the raid near the town of Siraway, said Gen. Narciso Abaya, the Philippine deputy military chief of staff. Gracia Burnham was being operated on in a military hospital in the southern city of Zamboanga, said Maj. Gen. Ernesto Carolina, commander of Philippine forces in the south. "She's here already," Carolina told reporters. "She is being operated on. It's a gunshot wound. She's talking. She's out of danger." There will be a predictable amount of bitching about the hostages being killed. Since they've tried negotiating, and even paid a ransom and got gypped, they had no other alternative except for ignoring the whole thing and letting the Islamists cut their heads off. Had they done that, there would have been further kidnappings as well. Anyway, seems to me, if you're a kidnapper, it's your responsibility to make sure your victim is kept safe, not the rescuers'. Abaya said Deborah Yap, a Filipino nurse kidnapped shortly after the Burnhams, was shot in the rescue operation and died of her wounds. However, troops at the site said they had not found her body. Four of the kidnappers were killed and several soldiers were wounded, Abaya said. Hope this is the end of Abu Sayyaf and all its remaining goons... Philippine officers said U.S. helicopters, part of a 1,000-strong contingent of U.S. troops advising Filipinos fighting the Abu Sayyaf, were retrieving more wounded from the clash scene. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said no U.S. troops were directly involved in the raid and that the American counterterrorism training program in the Philippines would continue. I hope they're taking their time about retrieving the wounded. And that it's very painful for them. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 In the first reports of the rescue, I read that the assault was done in the dark using US-supplied night vision devices (and suppressed weapons). If so, it is easier to slip away under cover of darkness, and it is still hard to see properly even with the devices; they aren't perfect. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-06-08 08:17:44 |
| #2 I don't know but this makes me profoundly sad. I've traveled the back country areas of much of the world and it was understood that our state department could not be counted on for serious support in times of crisis. I knew that but did it anyway. But this not rescuing this couple just doesn't seem right. |
| Posted by: bob 2002-06-07 17:38:55 |
| #1 The only unclear thing here is how a military operation could lose a body. Did they have to run out afterwards and couldn't keep control over the real estate? I'd doubt if a large animal ate it without somebody noticing. |
| Posted by: Tom Roberts 2002-06-07 14:07:10 |