Misplaced Pages

USS Cole bombing
Part of the Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
The Military Sealift Command fleet ocean tug USNS Catawba towing USS Cole after the bombing.
Location	Aden, Yemen
Coordinates	12°48′08″N 45°00′19″E / 12.8022°N 45.0054°E / 12.8022; 45.0054
Date	12 October 2000; 24 years ago (2000-10-12) 11:18 am (UTC +03:00)
Target	USS Cole
Attack type	Suicide attack
Deaths	17 (plus two attackers)
Injured	37
Perpetrators	al-Qaeda

The USS Cole bombing was a suicide attack by al-Qaeda against USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy, on 12 October 2000, while it was being refueled in Yemen's Aden harbor.

Seventeen U.S. Navy sailors were killed and thirty-seven injured in the deadliest attack against a United States naval vessel since the USS Stark incident in 1987.

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. A U.S. judge has held Sudan liable for the attack, while another has released over $13 million in Sudanese frozen assets to the relatives of those killed. The United States Navy has reconsidered its rules of engagement in response to this attack. On 30 October 2020, Sudan and the United States signed a bilateral claims agreement to compensate families of the sailors who died in the bombing. The agreement entered into force in February 2021.

Attack

On the morning of Thursday, 12 October 2000, Cole, under the command of Commander Kirk Lippold, docked in Aden harbor for a routine fuel stop. Cole completed mooring at 9:30 and began refueling at 10:30. Around 11:18 local time (08:18 UTC), a small fiberglass boat carrying C4 explosives and two suicide bombers approached the port side of the destroyer and exploded, creating a 40-by-60-foot (12 by 18 m) gash in the ship's port side, according to the memorial plate to those who lost their lives. Former CIA intelligence officer Robert Finke said the blast appeared to be caused by C4 explosives molded into a shaped charge against the hull of the boat. More than 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of explosive were used. Much of the blast entered a mechanical space below the ship's galley, violently pushing up the deck, thereby killing crew members who were lining up for lunch. The crew fought flooding in the engineering spaces and had the damage under control after three days. Divers inspected the hull and determined that the keel had not been damaged.

The sailors injured in the explosion were taken to the United States Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germany, before being sent to the United States. The attack was the deadliest against a U.S. naval vessel since an Iraqi aircraft's attack on USS Stark on 17 May 1987. The asymmetric warfare attack was organized and directed by the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. In June 2001, an al-Qaeda recruitment video featuring Osama bin Laden boasted about the attack and encouraged similar attacks.

Al-Qaeda had previously attempted a similar but less publicized attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS The Sullivans while in port at Aden on 3 January 2000, as a part of the 2000 millennium attack plots. The plan was to load a boat full of explosives and detonate them near The Sullivans. However, the boat was so overladen that it sank, forcing the attack to be abandoned.

Planning for the October attack was discussed at the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit from 5 to 8 January, shortly after the failed attempt. Along with other plotters, the summit was attended by future 11 September hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar, who then traveled to San Diego, California. On 10 June 2000, Mihdhar left San Diego to visit his wife in Yemen at a house also used as a communications hub for al-Qaeda. After the bombing, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani reported that Mihdhar had been one of the key planners of the attack and had been in the country at the time of the attacks. He later returned to the United States to participate in the 9/11 hijacking of American Airlines Flight 77, which flew into the Pentagon, killing 184 people.

Rescue

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The first naval ship on the scene to assist the stricken Cole was HMS Marlborough, a Type 23 frigate of the Royal Navy, under the command of Captain Anthony Rix. She was on passage to the UK after a six-month deployment in the Persian Gulf. Marlborough had full medical and damage control teams on board, and when her offer of assistance was accepted she immediately diverted to Aden. Eleven of the most badly injured sailors were sent via medevac provided by the French Air Force to a French military hospital in Djibouti and underwent surgery before being sent to Germany.

The first U.S. military support to arrive was a U.S. Air Force Security Forces Quick Reaction Force from the 363rd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing, based in Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, transported by C-130 aircraft. They were followed by another small group of United States Marines from the Interim Marine Corps Security Force Company, Bahrain, flown in by P-3 Orion aircraft. Both forces landed a few hours after the ship was struck and were reinforced by a U.S Marine platoon with the 1st Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team Company (FAST), based out of Norfolk, Virginia. The Marines from 6th Platoon, 1st FAST arrived on 13 October from Norfolk.

USS Donald Cook and USS Hawes made best speed to arrive in the vicinity of Aden that afternoon providing repair and logistical support. USNS Catawba, USS Camden, Anchorage, Duluth and Tarawa arrived in Aden some days later, providing watch relief crews, harbor security, damage control equipment, billeting, and food service for the crew of Cole. Landing craft (LCU) from the amphibious assault ships provided daily runs from Tarawa with hot food and supplies, and ferried personnel to and from all other naval vessels supporting Cole. In the remaining days LCU 1632 and various personnel from LCU 1666 teamed up to patrol around Cole.

Investigation

In a form of transport pioneered in 1988 by USS Samuel B. Roberts aboard Mighty Servant 2, Cole was hauled from Aden aboard the Norwegian semi-submersible heavy lift salvage ship MV Blue Marlin. Cole arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 13 December 2000, where she was rebuilt.

FBI and NCIS agents sent to Yemen to investigate the bombing worked in an extremely hostile environment. They were met at the airport by Yemeni special forces with "...each soldier pointing an AK-47." Speakers in the Yemeni parliament "calling for jihad against America" were broadcast on local television each night. After some delay, the Yemenis produced a CCTV video from a harborside security camera, but the crucial moment of the explosion was deleted. "There were so many perceived threats that the agents often slept in their clothes and with their weapons at their sides." At one point, the hotel where the agents stayed "was surrounded with men in traditional dress, some in Jeeps, all carrying guns." Finally the agents abandoned their hotel to stay at a US Navy vessel in the Bay of Aden, but they still did not feel safe. After being granted "...permission from the Yemeni government to fly back to shore," an agent said their helicopter took evasive action during the flight due to fears of shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.

Responsibility

On 14 March 2007, a federal judge in the United States, Robert G. Doumar, ruled that the Sudanese government was liable for the bombing.

The ruling was issued in response to a lawsuit filed against the Sudanese government by relatives of the victims, who claim that al-Qaeda could not have carried out the attacks without the support of Sudanese officials. The judge said:

There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan.

On 25 July 2007, Doumar ordered the Sudanese government to pay $8 million to the families of the 17 sailors who died. He calculated the amount they should receive by multiplying the salary of the sailors by the number of years they would have continued to work. The following day, Sudan's Justice Minister Mohammed al-Mard said Sudan intended to appeal the ruling.

In March 2015, U.S. federal judge Rudolph Contreras found both Iran and Sudan complicit in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole by al Qaeda, stating that "Iran was directly involved in establishing Al-Qaeda's Yemen network and supported training and logistics for Al-Qaeda in the Gulf region" through Hezbollah. Two previous federal judges had ruled that Sudan was liable for its role in the attack, but Contreras's "ruling is the first to find Iran partly responsible for the incident."

By May 2008, all defendants convicted in the attack had escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials. On 30 June 2008, Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, legal advisor to the U.S. military tribunal system, announced that charges were being sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian citizen of Yemeni descent, who had been held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006. Pentagon officials said the charges "organizing and directing" the Cole bombing still needed approval by a Department of Defense official who oversees military commissions set up for terrorism suspects. Pentagon officials said they would seek the death penalty.

Alleged mastermind

Several people have been described as the Cole bombing mastermind. A Guantanamo Military Commission said Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, captured in late 2002, was the planner. Al-Nashiri was one of the three "high-value detainees" the George W. Bush administration would acknowledge had been subjected to waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Abu Ali al-Harithi was one of the first suspected terrorists to be targeted by a missile-armed Predator drone. He, too, was described as the mastermind of the Cole bombing.

In 2003, the U.S. Justice Department indicted two people who were believed to have been the last main co-conspirators who were still at large, Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi and Fahd al-Quso. Jamal Ahmad Mohammad Al Badawi was convicted in Yemen and sentenced to death. Fahd al-Quso was killed by a U.S. drone strike on 6 May 2012. Al-Badawi, also called a "mastermind" of the Cole bombing, was one of seventeen captives who escaped through a tunnel from a Yemeni jail in 2006. Al-Badawi was killed in a drone strike on 1 January 2019 in the Marib governate, Yemen.

Tawfiq bin Attash, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and is currently being held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, was "considered the mastermind" of the bombing. An al-Qaeda commander in Yemen also confirmed that another co-conspirator in the bombing, Abdul Mun'im Salim al-Fatahani, was killed in a U.S. drone strike on 31 January 2012. On 6 May 2012, officials from the Yemen government reported that al-Quso was killed in an airstrike earlier in the day in southern Yemen. The report was later confirmed by U.S. officials and al-Qaeda's media network As-Sahab.

Aftermath

Rules of engagement

The destroyer's rules of engagement, as approved by the Pentagon, forbade guards to fire upon the small boat (which was not known to be loaded with explosives) without permission from Cole's captain or another officer.

Petty Officer John Washak said that right after the blast, a senior chief petty officer ordered him to turn an M-60 machine gun on Cole's fantail away from a second small boat approaching. "With blood still on my face", he said, he was told: "That's the rules of engagement: no shooting unless we're shot at." He added, "In the military, it's like we're trained to hesitate now. If somebody had seen something wrong and shot, he probably would have been court-martialed." Petty Officer Jennifer Kudrick said that if the sentries had fired on the suicide craft, "we would have gotten in more trouble for shooting two foreigners than losing seventeen American sailors."

Consequences

President Bill Clinton declared, "If, as it now appears, this was an act of terrorism, it was a despicable and cowardly act. We will find out who was responsible and hold them accountable."

On 19 January 2001, the U.S. Navy completed and released its Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) investigation of the incident, concluding that Cole's commanding officer Commander Kirk Lippold "acted reasonably in adjusting his force protection posture based on his assessment of the situation that presented itself" when Cole arrived in Aden to refuel. The JAGMAN investigation also concluded that "the commanding officer of Cole did not have the specific intelligence, focused training, appropriate equipment or on-scene security support to effectively prevent or deter such a determined, preplanned assault on his ship", and recommended significant changes in Navy procedures. In spite of this finding, Lippold was subsequently denied promotion and retired at the same rank of commander in 2007.

In Afghanistan the bombing was a "great victory for bin Laden. Al-Qaeda camps filled with new recruits, and contributors from the Gulf States arrived with petrodollars."

Both Clinton and his successor George W. Bush had been criticized for failing to respond militarily to the attack on Cole before 11 September 2001. The 9/11 Commission Report cites one source who said in February 2001, " complained frequently that the United States had not yet attacked   Bin Laden wanted the United States to attack, and if it did not he would launch something bigger."

Evidence of al-Qaeda's involvement was inconclusive for months after the attack. The staff of the 9/11 Commission found that al-Qaeda's direction of the bombing was under investigation but "increasingly clear" on 11 November 2000. It was an "unproven assumption" in late November. By 21 December the CIA had made a "preliminary judgment" that "al Qaeda appeared to have supported the attack" without a "definitive conclusion".

Accounts thereafter are varied and somewhat contradictory. Then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told the Commission that when the administration took office on 20 January 2001; "We knew that there was speculation that the 2000 Cole attack was al Qaeda. We received, I think, on January 25 the same assessment . It was preliminary. It was not clear." On 9 February, Vice President Dick Cheney was briefed on bin Laden's responsibility "without hedge." One report stated that "six days after Bush took office", the FBI "believed they had clear evidence tying the bombers to Al Qaeda."

These conclusions are contrasted by testimony of key figures before the 9/11 Commission, summarized in the 9/11 Commission Report. Former CIA Director George Tenet testified (page 196) that he "believed he laid out what was knowable early in the investigation, and that this evidence never really changed until after 9/11." The report suggests (pages 201–202) that the official assessment was similarly vague until at least March 2001:

On 25 January, Tenet briefed the President on the Cole investigation. The written briefing repeated for top officials of the new administration what the CIA had told the Clinton White House in November. This included the "preliminary judgment" that al Qaeda was responsible, with the caveat that no evidence had yet been found that Bin Ladin himself ordered the attack in March 2001, the CIA's briefing slides for Rice were still describing the CIA's "preliminary judgment" that a "strong circumstantial case" could be made against al Qaeda but noting that the CIA continued to lack "conclusive information on external command and control" of the attack.

According to Rice, the decision not to respond militarily to the Cole bombing was President Bush's. She said he "made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al Qaeda one attack at a time. He told me he was 'tired of swatting flies.'" The administration instead began work on a new strategy to eliminate al-Qaeda.

As a result of the Cole bombing, the U.S. Navy began to reassess its anti-terrorism and force protection methods, both at home and abroad. The Navy stepped up Random Anti-Terrorism Measures (RAM), which are meant to complicate the planning of a terrorist contemplating an attack by making it difficult to discern a predictable pattern to security posture.

In November 2001, the Navy opened an Anti-Terrorism and Force Protection Warfare Center at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB) Little Creek, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with the objective of developing tactics, equipment and training to combat terrorists.

On 3 November 2002, a CIA-operated Predator UAV fired an AGM-114 Hellfire missile at a vehicle in Yemen carrying Abu Ali al-Harithi, a suspected planner of the bombing plot. Also in the vehicle was Kamal Derwish, a.k.a. Ahmed Hijazi, a U.S. citizen and four suspected Yemeni terrorists. All six were killed in the strike.

On 29 September 2004, a Yemeni judge sentenced Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Jamal al-Badawi to death for their roles in the bombing. Al-Nashiri, believed to be the operation's mastermind, was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay.

In October 2004 the Navy consolidated the forces it deploys for anti-terrorism and force protection under a single command at NAB Little Creek. The new Maritime Force Protection Command (MARFPCOM) was activated to oversee the administration and training of the expeditionary units the Navy deploys overseas to protect ships, aircraft and bases from terrorist attack. MARFPCOM aligned four existing components: the Mobile Security Forces, Naval Coastal Warfare, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), and Expeditionary Mobile Diving and Salvage Forces.

On 3 February 2006, 23 suspected or convicted Al-Qaeda members escaped from jail in Yemen. This number included 13 who were convicted of the bombings of Cole and the French tanker MV Limburg in 2002. Among those who reportedly escaped was Al-Badawi. Al-Qaeda's Yemeni number two Abu Assem al-Ahdal may also have escaped.

On 17 October 2007, al-Badawi surrendered to Yemeni authorities as part of an agreement with al-Qaeda militants. Following his surrender, Yemeni authorities released him in return for a pledge not to engage in any violent or al-Qaeda-related activity, despite a US$5 million reward for his capture. Two other escapees remained at large.

In June 2008 the United States charged Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri with planning and conducting the attack. The United States planned to seek the death penalty in his case. On 5 February 2009, the United States dropped all charges against al-Nashiri "without prejudice" to comply with President Obama's order to shut down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, but reserved the right to file charges at a later date.

In 2009, U.S. federal judge Kimba Wood released $13.4 million in frozen assets belonging to Sudan, to be awarded to 33 spouses, parents, and children of the sailors killed in the attack. The money was awarded based on the 2002 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act and spearheaded by Miami Attorney Andrew C. Hall. Previously, the court had found Sudan culpable in facilitating the attack on the destroyer. John Clodfelter, father of Kenneth Clodfelter who was killed in the bombing, said; "It's about time something was done. It's taken so much more time than we thought it should take."

On 1 January 2019 Jamal al-Badawi, an al-Qaeda militant behind the attack, died in a U.S. air strike, President Donald Trump confirmed. U.S. defense officials said a "precision strike" was carried out east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.

Another lawsuit against Sudan was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in 2010 by 15 of the Cole sailors and three spouses, seeking damages from the country for knowingly supporting the terrorists that struck the ship. While the court action had been served to the Sudan embassy in Washington D.C., no representative of Sudan replied to the case or appeared at the hearing. A default judgement was awarded to the sailors for more than US$314 million in 2012. In the process of serving the necessary paperwork and actions to obtain the monetary damages from Sudan within the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, representatives of Sudan challenged the DC District Court ruling, arguing that under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) which allows for private lawsuits to be filed against foreign nations, the original case paperwork was not properly sent to their embassy in Sudan. Lawyers for the sailors argued that rejecting this would require them to rehold the initial trial and re-determine guilt and damages, if any. The Second Circuit upheld that the paperwork was filed appropriately, leading the representatives of Sudan to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for writ of certiorari on the question of whether the initial paperwork was properly addressed. The Supreme Court accepted the case, Republic of Sudan v. Harrison (Docket 16–1094) and took oral arguments on 9 November 2018. In March 2019, the Supreme Court vacated the Second Circuit's decision and overturned the award.

The Cole bombing plays a highly visible role in Navy damage-control training, which begins in boot camp with a pre-graduation Battle Stations event. "The Cole Scenario", launched in 2007, takes place aboard a realistic destroyer mock-up housed at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois. The training focuses on preparing recruits for damage control challenges they may face in the fleet.

On 13 February 2020, the Government of Sudan announced that it had reached an agreement to compensate the families of the USS Cole victims, a prerequisite for being removed from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. In its announcement, the Sudanese government reiterated that it was not responsible for the bombing but stated that its goal was to normalize relations with the United States and other countries and to settle historical claims arising from the previous regime. The bilateral claims agreement was signed on October 30, 2020, under which Sudan agreed to pay $335 million in compensation to resolve the claims brought by U.S. families of the victims of the attack on the USS Cole (and the victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya).

Memorial

A memorial to the victims of the attack was dedicated at Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on 12 October 2001. It was erected along the shore of Willoughby Bay, and overlooks the channel used by Navy ships transiting to sea. Seventeen low-level markers stand for the youthfulness of the sailors, whose lives were cut short. Three tall granite monoliths, each bearing brass plaques, stand for the three colors of the American flag. A set of brown markers encircling the memorial symbolize the darkness and despair that overcame the ship. In addition, 28 black pine trees were planted to represent the 17 sailors and the 11 children they left behind.

The memorial was funded by contributions from thousands of private individuals and businesses to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, which gave the memorial to the Navy. Its design originated as a vision of USS Cole crew members, who then teamed with Navy architects and the Society to finalize the project. The Cole memorial is located about 500 feet (150 m) west of the Naval Station memorial for the USS Iowa turret explosion. There is also another memorial marker placed at Wisconsin Square in the city of Norfolk, near USS Wisconsin.

See also

• Nasir Ahmad Nasir al-Bahri
• Bombing of SLNS Sooraya and SLNS Ranasuru
• List of terrorist incidents, 2000
• Attacks on the United States

References

1. Ward, Alex (8 November 2018). "Trump's Justice Department is fighting US terrorist attack victims in the Supreme Court". Vox.
2. "USS Cole (DDG-67) Determined Warrior". Naval History & Heritage Command. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
3. ^ "U.S.-Sudan Signing Ceremony on Bilateral Claims Agreement". United States Department of State. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
4. "Receipt of Funds for Resolution of Certain Claims Against Sudan". United States Department of State. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
5. Combs, Cindy C.; Slann, Martin W. (2009). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Infobase Publishing. p. 353. ISBN 9781438110196.
6. "Burden of Proof". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
7. Whitaker, Brian (21 August 2003). "Bomb type and tactics point to al-Qaida". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
8. "'I Survived a Terrorist Attack': Jennifer Kudrik talks about the attack on the USS Cole". Cosmopolitan. 1 September 2001.
9. "Yemeni pair charged in USS Cole bombing". Cable News Network. 15 May 2003. Archived from the original on 2 June 2003.
10. Yemen Frees USS Cole Bomb Plotter. Al-Qaeda Mastermind Of 2000 Attack On Ship Pardoned After Turning Himself In. Associated Press. SAN'A, Yemen, 26 October 2007.
11. GlobalSecurity.org. USS Cole bombing. Page maintained by John Lumpkin – Senior Fellow, GlobalSecurity.org.
12. GlobalSecurity.org. Al-Qaeda Activities.
14. CNN. Video shows bin Laden urging Muslims to prepare for fighting Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. 21 June 2001.
15. "A Claim For The Cole". CBS. 20 June 2001. Archived from the original on 4 April 2002.
16. "Video Offers Strong Bin Laden-USS Cole Link". ABC News. 19 June 2001.
17. Terrorism 2000/2001. Federal Bureau of Investigation. United States Government Printing Office 2004–306-694.
18. Piszkiewicz, Dennis (2003). Terrorism's war with America : a history. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-275-97952-2.
19. Nova: The Spy Factory television show.
20. 9/11 and Terror Travel, p. 11.
21. Substitution for the Testimony of KSM at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
22. Smith (2005), p. 60.
23. Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower, Knopf, (2006), p. 325, ISBN 0-375-41486-X.
24. ^ Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower, Knopf, (2006), pp. 322–331, ISBN 0-375-41486-X.
25. NBC News (14 March 2007). "Federal judge rules Sudan responsible for USS Cole bombing in 2000". NBC News. Retrieved 14 March 2007.
26. "Judge Finds Sudan Is Liable in Cole Case". The New York Times. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
27. Sudan must pay USS Cole victims. 25 July 2007.
28. Sudan to appeal verdict in USS Cole bombing case. 26 July 2007.
29. Hsu, Spencer S. (31 March 2015). "Judge orders Sudan, Iran to pay $75 million to family of USS Cole victim". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
30. Whitlock, Craig (4 May 2008). "Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels: Plotters Freed in Yemen; U.S. Efforts Frustrated". The Washington Post.
31. Jelinek, Pauline (30 June 2008). "Pentagon announces charges in USS Cole bombing". Associated Press.
32. ^ "U.S.: Top al Qaeda operative arrested". CNN. 21 November 2002. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009.
33. ^ "'Lackawanna 6' Link To Yemen Killings?". CBS News. 8 November 2002. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
34. ^ Walter Pincus (6 November 2002). "US missiles kill al Qaeda suspects". The Age. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
35. ^ Jeffrey Addicott (7 November 2002). "The Yemen Attack: Illegal Assassination or Lawful Killing?". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 18 April 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
36. ^ Dana Priest (8 November 2002). "U.S. Citizen Among Those Killed in Yemen Predator Missile Strike". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
38. Salon.com, Goodbye to Guantanamo?, 23 December 2008
40. "#05-15-03: Attorney General John Ashcroft Announces Indictment for the Bombing of the U.S.S. Cole". www.justice.gov. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
41. "USS Cole Bombing Mastermind Escapes Prison". Fox News. 6 February 2006. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Yemeni officials said Jamal al-Badawi – a man convicted of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the Cole bombing – was among the fugitives, Interpol said. Al-Badawi was among those sentenced to death in September 2004 for plotting the attack, in which two suicide bombers blew up an explosives-laden boat next to the destroyer as it refueled in the Yemeni port of Aden on October 12, 2000.
42. Ahmed Al-Haj (6 May 2012). "Airstrike Kills Senior Al-Qaida Leader in Yemen". ABC News. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
43. "USS Cole bombing mastermind killed in US airstrike, says report". The Independent. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
44. Gordon Lubold and Warren P. Strobel (9 May 2019). "Secret U.S. Missile Aims to Kill Only Terrorists, Not Nearby Civilians". Wall Street Journal.
45. Phil Hircshkorn (28 March 2006). "Al Qaeda witnesses saw Moussaoui as a bumbler". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Tawfiq Bin Atash, a senior al Qaeda operative considered the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in 2000, also assisted the 9/11 plot.
46. "AQAP operative killed in recent drone strike in Yemen". Long War Journal. FDD. 3 February 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
47. ^ Al-Haj, Ahmed (6 May 2012). "US airstrike kills senior al-Qaida leader in Yemen". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012.
48. ^ Robinson, Stephen (15 November 2000). "Bombed US warship was defended by sailors with unloaded guns". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
49. "In Clinton's Words: 'Doing Their Duty'". The New York Times. Associated Press. 13 October 2000.
50. ^ Roberts, John, and Jamie McIntyre, "Exclusive Interview With Former USS Cole Captain", The Situation Room, Cable News Network, 1 July 2008.
51. "Chapter 6". 9/11 Commission. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
52. "Staff Statement 8" (PDF). 9/11 Commission. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
53. Barton Gellman (20 January 2002). "A Strategy's Cautious Evolution: Before Sept. 11, the Bush Anti-Terror Effort Was Mostly Ambition". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
54. Michael Hirsh, Michael Isikoff (27 May 2002). "The inside story of the missed signals and intelligence failures that raise a chilling question: did September 11 have to happen?". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
55. ^ "911 Commission Report". 9/11 Commission. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
56. "Hearing transcript from 8 April 2004". 9/11 Commission. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
57. Statement of Captain Joseph F. Bouchard, USN, Commanding Officer, NS Norfolk to the Special Oversight Panel on Terrorism of the House Armed Service Committee. via GlobalSecurity.org 28 June 2001.
58. U.S. Navy Raises Barriers To Protect Base at Norfolk Archived 14 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine National Defense Magazine. June 2002. National Defense Industrial Association.
59. "Targeted Killings: The Death of Anwar al-Awlaki". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
60. Biographies of 14 detainees Archived 19 November 2009 at the Stanford Web Archive, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
61. "Maritime Force Protection Command to Activate Oct. 1." Archived 13 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine United States Navy News. 27 September 2004.
62. "Hunt on for Yemeni jailbreakers". BBC. 4 February 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
63. Agence France-Presse. "Top al-Qaeda suspect turns himself in" Archived 19 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine. 17 October 2007.
64. Whitlock, Craig, "Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels", The Washington Post, 4 May 2008, p. 1.
65. "U.S. drops Guantanamo charges per Obama order". Reuters. 6 February 2009. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
66. "The Anti-Terror Attorney: Andrew Hall's Life Is a Story of Survival Against Tyranny". ABA Journal. 1 September 2011.
67. The Virginian-Pilot, "U.S. Judge Releases $13.4M For Cole Victims' Families", 22 April 2009.
68. "USS Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi targeted in Yemen air strike". bbc.com. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
69. Liptak, Adam (7 November 2018). "A Thought Experiment at the Supreme Court Over How to Sue a Country". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
70. McMichael, William H. "10 years after Cole bombing, a different Navy" Navy Times, 11 October 2010.
71. Agence France-Presse (13 February 2020). "Sudan says deal signed with families of victims of USS Cole bombing". France 24. Sudan said Thursday it has signed a deal with the families of the victims of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, meeting a key condition for removing the country from Washington's terrorism blacklist.
72. Latif Dahir, Abdi (13 February 2020). "Sudan Says It Agrees to Compensate Families of U.S.S. Cole Bombing". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
73. "Statement on agreement concluded with victims of Cole bombing". Sudan News Agency (SUNA). 13 February 2020. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
74. "USS Cole Memorial". Pilot Online. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
75. "USS Cole Remembers 'Hero Sailors' Lost During 2000 Attack". US Navy News Service Story Number: NNS111012-19. 12 October 2001. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
76. "USS Cole Memorial". US Navy. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
77. Rhem, Kathleen T. (10 October 2001). "Navy Dedicates Cole Memorial Oct. 12". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
78. Jontz, Sandra. "One year later, memorial to fallen USS Cole sailors is dedicated". Stripes. Archived from the original on 27 June 2003. Retrieved 12 October 2009.

External links

• Detailed information and timeline
• Department of Defense Casualty release
• USS Cole (DDG-67) Determined Warrior
• Transcript of CNN coverage of the USS Cole memorial service Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine held 18 October 2000, at Norfolk, Virginia.
• Whitlock, Craig (4 May 2008). "Probe of USS Cole Bombing Unravels: Plotters Freed in Yemen; U.S. Efforts Frustrated". The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
• Lorenz, Akiva J. (5 December 2007). "Analyzing the USS Cole Bombing". Maritime Terrorism. Archived from the original on 13 August 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Kirk Lippold about his book Front Burner: Al Qaeda's Attack on the USS Cole, 8 July 2012

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 2000
Shipwrecks	11 Jan: Solway Harvester March (unknown date): PNS Taimur 30 Apr: World Discoverer 6 Jun: Stanegarth 14 Jun: USS Buchanan 16 Jun: USS Admiral W. L. Capps 17 Jun: USS Worden 23 Jun: Treasure 12 Aug: Kursk (disaster) 12 Sep: USS La Moure County 26 Sep: Express Samina 18 Oct: ROCS Shou Shan 21 Oct: Belofin-1 31 Oct: Ievoli Sun 9 Dec: ROCS Chen Hai 17 Dec: SeaBreeze 18 Dec: HMNZS Waikato December (unknown date): Mariz e Barros, Team Philips
Other incidents	24 Apr: Vereshchagino 12 Oct: USS Cole (bombing)
1999 2001

v t e Al-Qaeda
Leadership	Saif al-Adel Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi Sa'ad bin Atef al-Awlaki Ahmad Umar Iyad Ag Ghaly Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri Ibrahim al-Banna Ibrahim al Qosi Abu Walid al-Masri Mohammed Showqi Al-Islambouli Abdukadir Mohamed Abdukadir Fuad Qalaf Jehad Mostafa Abu Humam al-Shami Sami al-Oraydi
Former leadership	Killed Osama bin Laden (killing) Ayman al-Zawahiri (killing) Mohammed Atef Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil Haitham al-Yemeni Abu Hamza Rabia Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Omar al-Faruq Haitham al-Badri Abu Yaqub al-Masri Abu Talha al-Sudani Abu Laith al-Libi Abu Sulayman Al-Jazairi Midhat Mursi Mohamed Moumou Khalid Habib Abu Ghadiya Abu Zubair al-Masri Rashid Rauf Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan Saad bin Laden Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan Abdullah Said al Libi Saleh al-Somali Saeed al-Masri Hamza al-Jawfi Ahmed Mohammed Hamed Ali Mohamed Abul-Khair Sheikh Fateh Huthaifa al-Batawi Ilyas Kashmiri Fazul Abdullah Mohammed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki Samir Khan Tariq al-Dahab Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan Fahd al-Quso Abu Yahya al-Libi Hassan Ghul Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Said Ali al-Shihri Farman Ali Shinwari Abdelhamid Abou Zeid Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki Said Bahaji Abu Khalid al-Suri Omar Ould Hamaha Ahmed Abdi Godane Abu Yusuf Al-Turki Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah Adam Yahiye Gadahn Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari Othman Ahmad Othman al-Ghamdi Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad al-Rubaysh Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi Nasir al-Wuhayshi Muhsin al-Fadhli Abu Khalil al-Madani Matiur Rehman Abu Firas al-Suri Ahmed Refai Taha Mokhtar Belmokhtar Abu Khayr al-Masri Ibrahim al-Asiri Hamza bin Laden Sari Shihab Asim Umar Qasim al-Raymi Abdelmalek Droukdel Khalid al-Aruri Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah Abu Muhsin al-Masri Captured Mamdouh Mahmud Salim Wadih el-Hage Khalid al-Fawwaz Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Walid bin Attash Riduan Isamuddin Ali al-Bahlul Ahmed Ghailani Abu Faraj al-Libbi Mustafa Setmariam Nasar Abdul Hadi al Iraqi Muhammad Jafar Jamal al-Kahtani Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al Harbi Younis al-Mauritani Sulaiman Abu Ghaith Abu Anas al-Libi Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh Mukhtar Robow Amin al-Haq Other Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri (died) Abu Ubaidah al-Masri (died) Mahfouz Ould al-Walid (left) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (expelled) Abu Mohammad al-Julani (left) Abu Maria al-Qahtani (left) Ahmad Salama Mabruk (left) Abu Omar al-Turkistani (left) Abu Sulayman al-Muhajir (left) Khalid Batarfi (died)
Timeline of attacks	1998 United States embassy bombings 2000 USS Cole bombing 2001 September 11 attacks 2002 Bali bombings 2004 Madrid train bombings 2005 London bombings 2007 Algiers bombings 2008 Islamabad Danish embassy bombing 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing 2013 In Amenas hostage crisis 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting 2015 Garissa University College attack 2015 Bamako hotel attack 2016 Ouagadougou attacks 2016 Grand-Bassam shootings 2016 Bamako attack 2019 Naval Air Station Pensacola shooting
Wars	Soviet–Afghan War Afghan Civil War (1989–1992) Afghan Civil War (1992–1996) First Chechen War Afghan Civil War (1996–2001) Second Chechen War War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Iraq War Somali Civil War War in North-West Pakistan (drone strikes) Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) Syrian civil war Yemeni civil war (2014–present) Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen Houthi insurgency
Affiliates	Al-Shabaab (Somalia) Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (North Africa) Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Egypt) Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent (Indian subcontinent) Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (Mali) Hurras al-Din (Syria)
Charity organizations	Benevolence International Foundation Al-Haramain Foundation
Media	Al Qaeda Handbook Al Neda As-Sahab Al-Andalus Media Al-Kataib Media Foundation Radio al-Andalus Shahada News Agency Al-Malahem Media Inspire Az-Zallaqa Foundation Fatawā of Osama bin Laden Al-Khansaa Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit Management of Savagery Voice of Jihad Qaedat al-Jihad Global Islamic Media Front
Video and audio	Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden Videos and audio recordings of Ayman al-Zawahiri USS Cole bombing
Related	Safe houses Saddam–al-Qaeda conspiracy theory Timeline
Category:Al-Qaeda

• Suicide bombings in 2000
• Attacks in Asia in 2000
• Al-Qaeda attacks
• Islamic terrorism in Yemen
• Islamic terrorist incidents in 2000
• 20th century in Aden
• Mass murder in 2000
• 2000 in Yemen
• United States Navy in the 20th century
• Politics of Yemen
• Suicide bombings in Yemen
• International maritime incidents
• Maritime incidents in 2000
• Presidency of Bill Clinton
• Ship bombings
• Gulf of Aden
• Combat incidents
• United States–Yemen relations
• Sudan–United States relations
• Sudan–Yemen relations
• Attacks on United States entities
• October 2000 events in Asia
• Terrorist incidents in Aden