FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS, the Philippine military has intensified its campaign against Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic separatist group holding three hostages, two of them American, deep in the jungles of Basilan island. There are currently 7,000 soldiers on Basilan, roughly 600 miles south of Manila, and according to Southern Command chief Roy Cimatu, “We are very positive that we are almost closing in to the location of the hostages and [Abu Sayyaf leader] Abu Sabaya.” The military is so confident that they have promised to free the Americans, missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham of Kansas and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap, by Christmas Day. Cimatu told reporters, “The destruction of Abu Sayyaf and rescue of the hostages will come in this final operation that we are conducting.” It’s about time. Back on May 27, 2001, the Burnhams and 18 other tourists were abducted from a resort on Palawan island. In June, an American named Guillermo Sobero was beheaded by Abu Sabaya. Since then, the remaining hostages have been freed. But for the Burnhams, it has been a grueling six-and-a-half months. A video released by Abu Sayyaf in November shows the couple under heavy guard, both looking exhausted and emaciated. Gracia wanted to be with their three children and appeared on the verge of a complete mental breakdown: “It takes me days to recover every time I hear even a twig snap,” she said. Both are also suffering from mouth sores due to a lack of nutrients. (This would seem to contradict Commander Cimatu’s claim that “the hostages are in good condition.”) When Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo met with President Bush last month, she was promised increased military aid, including helicopters and machine guns. After an initial assessment by the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, the United States dispatched more than a dozen members of the Delta Force to the Philippines in order to train an elite counterterrorism unit, the Light Reaction Company. But despite a widespread hope that American commandos would fight alongside the Filipinos (one member of the U.S. contingent even told a newspaper that he’d like to participate actively in the operations), their role is to serve only as “consultants.” President Arroyo has said that her country’s constitution expressly forbids foreign troops on their soil. So even if Americans are being held by terrorists, our military cannot go in and rescue them. Needless to say, such obstacles have been a source of frustration for everyone connected to the Burnhams, including hundreds of churchgoers in Wichita, Kansas, who recently signed a petition asking President Bush to step up his efforts. As one petitioner told the Wichita Eagle, “they may be willing to die for God, but we shouldn’t let them.” Another evangelical group, the New Tribes Mission–of which the Burnhams are members–is also agitating for increased attention from the administration. I asked NTM spokesman Scott Ross if he was optimistic about a Christmas release for the Burnhams. “We’re somewhat suspicious since we’ve heard this sort of thing before. That they’d be released in October. Or by the end of November. Or by Ramadan. And each one of these deadlines has just come and gone. We’ll believe it when we see it.” I also asked Ross if they were satisfied with U.S. efforts to bring the Burnhams back. “What’s being done now, the training of troops and the military aid, those address the long-term needs,” he says. “But right now, we are in need of short-term answers. Martin and Gracia are in very bad health and we have been calling on the U.S. government to take a more active role in the rescue.” The administration, however, is still refusing to take on that active role. While a member of the administration told me earlier that the focus is on training the Filipinos, other officials have been telling the New Tribes Mission that “everything that can be done is being done.” But reliance on the Philippine army to single-handedly carry out a rescue is worrisome. Remember that the country’s government at one time held two high-ranking members of Abu Sayyaf at a prison outside Manila. Both men easily escaped when their guards were drunk. Worse, there have been allegations, adamantly denied by the Philippine military, that a few officers have been bribed by Abu Sayyaf in the past, allowing the terrorists to slip the government’s grasp at the last minute. This is not to say it can’t be done. The BBC has been optimistically reporting that “any time now,” the army “will be able to rescue the American couple. . . . Based on the briefings held by the operating troops, Abu Sabaya’s group is already cornered by the military in Sampinit Complex.” Let’s just hope that this time there really is no way out. Victorino Matus is an assistant managing editor at The Weekly Standard.
