U.S.S. Cole Bombing

The Search

The attack on the Cole is widely accepted as a terrorist attack; although technically unsolved, most evidence indicated the involvement of the Al Qaeda network. A lesser-known attempt on a U.S. ship had failed in a larger radical Islamic effort to ring in the new millennium with terror attacks. Around that time, a U.S. warship, the U.S.S. The Sullivans, was in Yemen, and some terrorists loaded a dinghy with explosives and sailed out to meet the ship. The dinghy sank from the weight, and the would-be martyrs swam to shore and disappeared.

Through the investigations, a portrait of the Cole bombers and their methods has emerged. Two men rented an expensive hilltop apartment in Aden with a sweeping rooftop view of the harbor. Apparently, they spent considerable time observing harbor activities, the comings and goings of large ships. They did not talk much with their neighbors, yet spoke to local fishermen often, asking about how far one could sail in a dinghy and other questions. Shortly before the attack, the two men told neighbors they were going on a long trip and would be back around late December, the end of Ramadan. They have never been seen or heard from again.

Unearthing hard evidence, though, has been next to impossible for investigators; the American investigation team in Yemen has been blocked at nearly every turn. When FBI officials first arrived less than a day after the attack, Yemeni officials expressed suspicion about their investigation protocols. FBI requests to [Page 394]interview high-level Yemeni officers were routinely denied. By summer 2001, the investigation had stalled and a wave of terror threats against the investigators caused new tensions. The FBI was forced to pull its team from Yemen; the case is still unsolved.

Members of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard place the body of a sailor killed during the terrorist bomb attack on the U.S.S. Cole into a hearse. The October 12, 2000, attack, believed to be the work of an Al Qaeda cell, took the lives of 17 American sailors.

Defense Visual Information Center.

After the pullout of FBI agents, a video showing bin Laden praising the Cole bombing circulated in the Arab world. Yemeni authorities then arrested nine suspected terrorists for threatening the U.S. investigative teams; they have yet to go to trial. U.S. officials believe that some perpetrators are still at large. In February 2002, Yemeni authorities were pursuing another major suspect when he blew himself up before he could be arrested.

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