July 1, 2008
Pentagon announces charges in USS Cole bombing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:26 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Monday it is charging a Saudi Arabian with ”organizing and directing” the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole — and will seek the death penalty.
Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, legal adviser to the U.S. military tribunal system, said charges are being sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, who has been held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.
The charges still must be approved by a Defense Department official who oversees military tribunals set up for terrorism suspects. If they are approved, al-Nashiri he will be the first person charged in the United States in connection with the attack nearly eight years ago.
Hartmann said the allegations include conspiracy to violate laws of war, murder, treachery, terrorism, destruction of property and intentionally causing serious bodily injury.
Seventeen American sailors were killed and dozens wounded when the Navy destroyer was attacked in the Yemeni port of Aden as it refueled.
Al-Nashiri is also accused of a role in the Oct. 6, 2002, suicide attack on the Limburg, a French oil tanker, Hartmann said. The attack killed a Bulgarian crew member and spilled 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.
Al-Nashiri told a hearing at Guantanamo Bay last year that he confessed to helping plot the Cole bombing only because he was tortured by U.S. interrogators.
CIA Director Michael Hayden said early this year that al-Nashiri was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding in 2002 and 2003 while being interrogated in secret CIA prisons.
Asked at a Pentagon press conference if evidence obtained from the waterboarding is tainted, Hartmann said that would be considered at any trial.
”We will look at the evidence, all of the evidence that is associated with the case,” Hartmann said. ”While there has been an admission that there was waterboarding, there may well be other evidence in the case. That’s not … necessarily the only part of evidence in the case.”
According to U.S. intelligence, al-Nashiri was tasked by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to attack the Cole, and also was al-Qaida’s operations chief in the Arabian Peninsula until he was caught in 2002.
Hartmann read a charge sheet, alleging the following against al-Nashiri:
–He is a member of al-Qaida and met with bin Laden on several occasions.
–He rented apartments overlooking the port of Aden in 1999 to prepare for the Cole attack.
–His co-conspirators failed in an attempt to blow up the USS The Sullivans in January of 2000. Al-Nashiri and others salvaged the explosives and refitted the boat from that plot, then he went to Afghanistan to discuss reorganization of the plot with bin Laden.
–When the Cole entered the port on Oct. 12, 2000, al-Nashiri’s co-conspirators piloted the boat next to the U.S. ship and detonated explosives that blasted a 40-foot hole in the Cole’s side.
At his hearing last year, al-Nashiri acknowledged meeting with bin Laden many times and received as much as a half million dollars. The money, he said, was used for personal expenses, including for marriage and business deals.
Al-Nashiri said he told interrogators that he used some of the money to buy explosives used to bomb the Cole, but in reality he said he gave the explosives to friends to help dig wells. He said he confessed to involvement in several other terror plots in order to get the torture to stop — including the 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg, plans to bomb American ships in the Gulf, a plan to hijack a plane and crash it into a ship and that bin Laden had a nuclear bomb.
”From the time I was arrested five years ago, they have been torturing me. It happened during interviews. One time they tortured me one way, and another time they tortured me in a different way,” al-Nashiri said, according to the transcript. ”I just said those things to make the people happy. They were very happy when I told them those things.”
Asked why it had taken nearly eight years for the U.S. to charge anyone in the bombing, Hartmann said it takes time to gather and prepare evidence.
Another one of the alleged masterminds in the bombing — Jamal al-Badawi — was convicted in 2004 in Yemen of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the Cole bombing. He is wanted by the FBI, but Yemeni officials have said it is against their constitution to hand him over to the U.S.
The Bush administration maintains waterboarding was legal when it was used by CIA interrogators in 2002 and 2003 on al-Nashiri and top al-Qaida detainees Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah. Hayden said waterboarding was used, in part, because of widespread belief among U.S. intelligence officials that more catastrophic attacks were imminent.
The CIA banned its personnel from using waterboarding in 2006.

The Yemen times article on the ship accident is to a tanker explosion. It’s not the ref I thought it was. Posted it without reading it, just relying on memory. Coming back to me now that there was that other incident and for quite a while they claimed that it wasn’t a terror attack, but this isn’t the article I was thinking of about the Cole. Sorry for the error.

I don’t know if he is interested specifically in the Cole incident, but I thought to send him the info because it was consistent with the article by him that I referenced where he talks of Bush’s broken promises. The email I used was from the first link, but the others have a different one. Maybe he can provide some additional info. I don’t know. I don’t know him except to read his articles, but he is the only one I know of who had written about the problem.

http://www.meib.org/rubin.htm
http://www.meforum.org/meq/editors.php
http://www.aei.org/scholars/filter.all,scholarID.83/scholar.asp

If you can say the name or names of the company/companies running the port, I would be interested for reference. If you go to the Yemen Times article I referred to in my #8, above (first one in title) you will see that they tried to dismiss the attack as an accident of some kind. They must have known it wasn’t (otherwise they aren’t very competent at what they do) or they are lying.

When i wrote congress last month the first time. I also asked as to why they had not stop the contracts for the Port in Aden, Yemen. Approximately two weeks later Sen. Kenndy asked at a hearing “why are we still using the Port in Aden, Yemen.” The reporter was baffled because Kenndy just brought the statement up out of the blue.

So then kenndy was informed that the US had not used the Port in Aden since the attack. Now that is pure BS. I have written for close to seven years now about that port, and for our government to stop giving Saleh money for it. i even got a response that the Port was deemed vital.

But the Cole Case is now heating up and attrating attention. I sent the washington post a bunch of stuff. They ran a big article not long after that. I am not saying my stuff was why they did that. But regardless that article has gotten the politicians to sit up and take notice.

Back to the Port. I then sent the government all my research from the Port, including our governments contracts with the Yemenis on the port. The company in question is ran by arabs of course. but it appears that Salehs familiy members have their fingers in the business as well.

And I could not access what the monies were for. Only the amounts. A good size chunk of change.

Something is not quite right big time. For kennedy to just all of a sudden after seven long years to get interested in the port. And then to just tell the reporter that it was an “off the cuff remark”. Who was the remark for?

I have given all my stuff to some international lawyers. i want to know about the port. And there were two articles from the New York Times that stated back after the initial attack that the Company that ran the port was partially responsible for security of the Cole when she docked at the port. that the FBI was extremely interested in the company. But then it went cold. End of story. Nothing else ever written about it. Jane spent some time researching the Company too. She found where they have even more contracts with our government.

I just know that since I have sent all that stuff that things are starting to happen. I think that maybe they are trying to do some preventive PR damage control.

I just looked up M.Rubin’s email, and sent him that link from Mr. Swenchonis’ blog so he can add it to his database of Mr. Bush’s broken promises.

With all the evidence out there now. Government records, even Cohen making the statement on the Clintons last day in office how they had made serious mistakes before and after the Cole attack, yet most americans refuse to demand that they all be held accountable for 9/11.

Will the senators that wrote me last week really get us a congressional hearing? i don’t know.
They give congressional hearings on how video games are driving our kids to murder, how grown men who play ball for a living take “juice”, and how can openers need to have safety warnings on them etc… Yet real issues that that involve politicians always seem to get passed over.

We have these tapes the day after 9/11. A few, a very few politicians came out and spoke how they had all fialed us, the american people. That the Cole attack should have been handled differently. That the leads should have been followed up. Ah! Yeah! But with-in two days they closed ranks. And then the same old mantra’We will have plenty of time in the future to find those in our government responsible for the mistakes that led to this horrible day in our history’

But as with politicians that day never came. And Bush has refused two judges request that he comment on if victims of terrorism should be awarded this much, or that much. he has declined each time. Sooner of later, I think sooner a president is going to have to take a side with his people, or the enemy. 9/11 would have been a legal mess if the government had not stepped in and picked up the bill. They knew it too. More terror acts will happen here in America. That is a given. The government will not always be able to pay the lump sums of millions of dollars to the victims. So far the government has been able to keep small groups victims that pay for their own lawyers to fight our government, and the country that helped in the attack isolated from each other. But our groups are growing. And unfortunately will continue to grow as more dead americans are killed by radical islamics.

Two face countries like Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iran, etcc.. use our own government against us. Not to mention all the people murdered by the PA in Israel.

Scott. I did post Bush’s letter on my site. I got the scanner working! I use voice activated machine because of my hands. Thank God it cannot understand cussing.

“What they failed to see and recognize was the fact that radical islam was dead serious.”

From what I see of their behavior they still haven’t a clue what we are up against.

They are not much different from other leaders in the West who all seem to be suffering from the same dysfunctionality. What it’s source is, I’m not sure, but the damage it’s causing is serious.

Your other first hand observations are much appreciated, as is Scott’s analysis.

All the best.

How else does one link the ACLU, Guantanamo prison Camp and “high level” plots regarding the bombing of the Cole?

I do not fault President Bush for not injecting himself into what is a very public, emotional and, apparently, controversial issue.

And there were attacks on American symbols long before the Cole attack. Recalling the first World Trade Center attack, Bombings at night clubs in Germany frequented by American GI’s and hijacking of American airlines going back to the 1960’s.

All by militant Islamic extremists.

I did not know that this kinda site existed. I just started reading it from the responses.

Scott I read your theories as to why Bush or Clinton did nothing about the Cole. I agree with your historical perspective very much so.

And your other points. But with a major exception. The Cole was as other socciologists, and historians agree a psychological turning point in this nations values. Some people reading this will think that I must be stoned. Politicians are a reflection of the people, right?

It used to be that way. Not 100% granted. I saw it happening in the 90’s as director in criminal justice. Political correctness raised its ugly head. When leaders at local government level and in Washington became more interested in the few groups of voters than the majority of voters.

It got to the point where I saw criminals get more services than the victims. I also was a director for Federal. It was even worse. The mindset. Thats what I mean by the “value change”.
In government. Thats why I told everyone that Clinton would do nothing. And when elected Bush would ignore it. Future behavior is always predictable by past behavior.

Most Americans will believe anything that their party leader tells them. A sad statement, but true in most cases. Or they will defend their man or womans wrong behavior to the end, or minimize the behavior. Both Clinton and Bush knew exactly what they were doing, and that the Cole would be forgotten. What they failed to see and recognize was the fact that radical islam was dead serious. Even though a few people in high places were screaming their heads off for us to wake up. That the Cole was the turning point. Thats why i wrote Bush the letter. I agreed with those who believed that Bin laden would attack America if not dealt with. His behavior which I had been following for years demonstrated it. A few Generals, and politicians said the same thing, bbut were ocstrizcied, and ridiculed.

I really doubt that Bush and party will do anything about the Cole. That will only bring attention to their failures and neglect to protect America. The same with Clinton. Look at how Sandy got off for stealing government documents. Everyone knows why he was there. yet the politicians know its for all their own good to let him go.

Americans should in my opinion march on Washington and throw the whole lot out. Dumbocrat and ratocrats. We are governed now by politicians who listen to the few, not the majority.

Best wishes for success. I’m not optimistic, for reasons I’ve given above, but your case is clearly justified.

If nothing else, it reveals something deeply troubling in the behavior of Reps as well as the Dems. From the Dems we expect it, but not the Conservatives, which some Republicans may still be. Of course you want and deserve more than that, so I hope and pray you receive it.

As to Yemen, we may need the port facilities there, and may be afraid to antagonize our not-so-concealed enemy. Still, Bush should at least show you a lot more consideration for the sacrifice you have made.

regards