Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels

[DeSwiss]

Source: The Washington Post

Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels
Plotters Freed in Yemen; U.S. Efforts Frustrated

By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 4, 2008; Page A01


(By Hasan Jamali -- Associated Press)

ADEN, Yemen -- Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials. Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times, but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington.

But U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections. Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when -- or if -- they will be tried by the military. The collapse of the Cole investigation offers a revealing case study of the U.S. government's failure to bring al-Qaeda operatives and their leaders to justice for some of the most devastating attacks on American targets over the past decade.

A week after the Cole bombing, President Bill Clinton vowed to hunt down the plotters and promised, "Justice will prevail." In March 2002, President Bush said his administration was cooperating with Yemen to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists." He added: "Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep."

Since then, Yemen has refused to extradite Badawi and an accomplice to the United States, where they have been indicted on murder charges. Other Cole conspirators have been freed after short prison terms. At least two went on to commit suicide attacks in Iraq. "After we worked day and night to bring justice to the victims and prove that these Qaeda operatives were responsible, we're back to square one," said Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent and a lead investigator into the bombing. "Do they have laws over there or not? It's really frustrating what's happening."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050302047.html?nav=rss_email/components

---

- Do they have laws over there? A good question. But I can quite understand the FBI guy's frustration though.

Because we have a hard time getting our leaders to obey the laws over here as well...
========================================================================
DeSwiss


http://atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[mrreowwr_kittty]

1. That attack has always smelled like "October surprise" to me.

Yeah, I know. :tinfoilhat:

[Warpy]

2. Stupid's administration dropped it like a hot rock

as soon as they were sworn in. Of course, they did that with all the investigations into Al Qaeda.

I guess persuading Big Oil that they'd soon be dividing the booty of the Iraqi oil fields was more important.

[DeSwiss]

19. And...

...its still is the most important. Its just that its now become a rear-guard action. They've salted most of it all away by now, while the hemorrhaging within their ranks of sycophants, neocons and political hucksters, goes on. The real crooks who did the the dirty deeds, has long since vacated the premises. Like so many roaches scattering when the lights come on.

But to paraphrase Rush Limpballs, instead of riots in Denver, "I dream of day where George W. Bush stands in judgment before the World Court..."

- And where would we be without our dreams???

[DeSwiss]

18. Take two aspirin, and call me in the morning....

...think I'l have some too.

[Pavulon]

3. Two words

global hawk..19 people are worth the cost of ordinance.

[thunder rising]

4. FBI agent complaining about Yemen not having laws. pppffffttt

[blm]

5. BushInc does NOT want Cole thoroughly investigated - Cheney's company was in charge of the refueling

thanks to the privatization of logistics he instituted as Sec of Defense and which Bill Clinton decided to keep in place.

Privatizing logistics has hurt our military and its security more than any other action. Those troops being electrocuted by bad wiring and contracting illnesses from bad food and drink all at premium prices to the taxpayers are SOP for Halliburton-KBR.

[dantyrant]

8. Yemeni News reported that there were cameras in the ports...

and they reported that the explosion came from inside the ship,

And re: the refueling, why did it need fuel ANYWAYS? It was on its way to Bahrain and it was half-full?

It's fishy. Nevermind that bin Laden never heard the name al Qaeda until after 9/11 -- Yemeni officials claim that OBL had nothing to do with it. Of course, bin Laden is a Yemeni national, and a rich one, so it's always possible that they were just covering for their money man. But this is unlikely, and in any case would not explain the bizarre silence on the part of our government re: the attacks.

[Pavulon]

9. All Bullshit

Look at that hole. Blasted inwards. Servicemen saw the craft approach and explode.

Yemen impeded the investigation. Yemen was never friendly, during the cold war they were dangerous.

Like Al-Harethi's this person will find themselves quite dead. In reality he is already dead, the cross hairs just have not lined up.

The FBI is a law enforcement agency. The CIA is not.

The only thing that was odd to me is that they choose to strike a real military target and not kill soft civilian targets like in the embassy bombings.

[DeSwiss]

10. I would think....

...that the above photo proves that the force of the explosion went "toward" the ship as the metal is curled inward, not outward as it would if it came from inside the ship.

They're just trying to shift responsibility. And that didn't work, so they just let the bastards who did it go.

- And we can continue to expect such obfuscation from our "Global Partners Against Terrorism," as long as we're dependent upon their oil....

[ooglymoogly]

13. I think you would need a better picture taken from different angles

to make a judgment on whether the metal is blown inward or outward. This picture is like one of those mind drawings that does not add up but looks like something it is not. You could look at this picture and see the huge left panel looking as if it is hanging out like a door and the same on the right and I can't see what others are seeing that the metal is curling in. It appears to me to be curling out. Again I think you would need pictures at different angles to determine that definitively. There was clearly a fire that would account for the upward shootings of suet. In my opinion the best evidence for a layman viewing this picture and the stated evidence that the crewmen all saw the small boat coming at the ship, the best is the statements of the crew. But from this picture it appears to me the metal is bent and curled outward but photographs can fool.

[Sweet Pea]

15. Whsat??

Are you fucking blind? That is a blast pattern of explosive residue, not "suet" (sic), or "soot" (to use the correct word).

Could you explain how that blast pattern of explosive residue ended up on the OUTSIDE of the hull if the blast came from the inside.

[ooglymoogly]

23. yes sorry about soot, for which I blame the spell checker and carelessness.

I am not guessing on the inside, outside matter, nor am I trying to make a case for either. I plainly stated that between this particular picture and the crew, the crew statements are the best evidence. This explosion would have had a fire ball if only for the gas in the boat which I was trying to say evidenced an explosion from the outside. The only point I was trying to make was that from this picture, the metal curling in or out is not readily discernible to me from this picture. I have never had any reason to question the official story nor am I claiming I know anything of value on this issue since I have done zilch research on this issue.

[Thothmes]

14. I think the USS Cole was only the second or third

ship to refuel in Aden. Always before, U.S. Navy ships that were transiting alone would stop in the French controlled Jabouit. Units of the French Foreign Legion provided security from the land side. Units of the French Navy patrolled the sea side. Probably safer there than if in San Diego or Norfolk. I do understand why the Clinton Administration shifted refueling to Aden.

[Igel]

6. They have laws over there.

It's just you have to understand them.

It's funny this finally made the WaPo. It's been percolating among the blogs for at least 6 months, with nothing new added by WaPo.

[DeSwiss]

17. They had to "run-it" up the 'ol flagpole, first...

- I have nothing to add...

[Lasher]

7. I just have to reflect on an old GOP liemail that was debunked by Snopes.

Claim: The Clinton administration failed to track down the perpetrators of several terrorist attacks against Americans.

Status: False.

<snip>

After the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured three US sailors, President Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished.

Maybe if Mr Clinton had kept his promise, an estimated 7,000 more people would be alive today.

<snip>

On 12 October 2000, two suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden skiff next to the USS Cole while it was refueling in Aden, Yemen, blasting a hole in the ship that killed 17 sailors and injured 37 others. No suspects have yet been arrested or indicted (when this Snopes article was initially published). The investigation has been hampered by the refusal of Yemini officials to allow FBI agents access to Yemeni nationals and other suspects in custody in Yemen.

The USS Cole bombing occurred one month before the 2000 presidential election, so even under the best of circumstances it was unlikely that the investigation could have been completed before the end of President Clinton's term of office three months later.

<snip>

Update:   In January 2004 a version of the 2001 e-mail with "BUSH COVERED IT!" inserted after each entry began to be circulated on the Internet. Must be an election year.

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/clinton.asp

[FormerOstrich]

11. grrrrrrr

..from the link

Despite the initial promises of accountability, only limited public inquiries took place in Washington, unlike the extensive investigations that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Basic questions remain about which individuals and countries played a role in the assault on the Cole.

:crazy:

[onehandle]

12. Clinton's Fault! Clinton's Fault! Clinton's Fault!

Nothing that bad ever happened on Bush's watch!

Especially nothing he was warned about!

cough.

http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/911bush.html

[DeSwiss]

21. Yeah, they beat that one to death....

- And it would've worked again, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/06/opinion/polls/main924485.shtml">except now nobody's listening...

[gratuitous]

16. Frustrating, is it?

I wonder, then, how Iraqis feel when American soldiers, caught dead to rights massacring civilians in their own homes, are barely prosecuted by their comrades in arms, and found either not guilty or guilty of violating administrative regulations by failing to report the massacre.

"Frustrating" would be several steps back, if you ask me.

[crimsonblue]

20. Bush "Do as Dick says.. not as Dick does!"

[Supersedeas]

22. so much for going after nations that 'actually' harbor terrorists--guess Yemen didn't try to

assassinate Dada....after all...on with faulty intelligence on top.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. Hats off to the crew

for keeping that afloat.