Sam Brownback: “I rise today to discuss a sad and incredibly important situation that happened last week involving citizens from my…”

“I rise today to discuss a sad and incredibly important situation that happened last week involving citizens from my State. The war on terrorism claimed another victim. This past week brought about the sorrowful conclusion to a long and harrowing ordeal for three inspiring people, two of whom are from my home state of Kansas. Gracia and Martin Burnham, and their fellow hostage, Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap, had endured more than a year in captivity at the brutal hands of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf that has had links to the al-Qaida organization. We all know the news reports, some of them almost by heart, of the attempted rescue by the Filipino military, who, based on the details that I have, demonstrated heroism and bravery in the encounter. And the heart-rending deaths of Martin and Ediborah and the wounding of Gracia. But today I want to remind all of us that while this may have been the end of their ordeal, it is not the end of their struggle, nor of ours. The poet John Donne once wrote, "No man is an island, entire of it selfe; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee." September 11 was a wakeup call, but the bell still tolls. We must not let it go unanswered.”