Airstrike kills devout Muslim terrorist behind USS Cole bombing

U.S. failure to retaliate for USS Cole attack rankled then — and now
Declassified docs show U.S. officials urged Clinton, Bush to strike al-Qaida

(See why the Clinton’s, Bush’s and Obama’s HATE Trump and get along so well?)

By Michael Isikoff
National investigative correspondent
NBC News
updated 10/12/2010 11:31:41 AM ET

Newly declassified documents show the frustrations of top White House counter terrorism officials over the U.S. failure to respond to al-Qaida’s October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole despite evidence that Osama bin Laden was reading poetry about the murderous attack and publicly taking credit for it.

The lack of U.S. response to the Cole attack — under both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush — (AND OBMAMA) has re-emerged as a painful issue this week, as crew and family members gather at the U.S. naval base in Norfolk, Va., to mark the 10th anniversary of the bombing, which killed 17 U.S. sailors and injured 38.

“I just felt, for sure, you know, they’re not going to go ahead and just kiss off the lives of 17 U.S. sailors,” John Clodfelter, who lost his son, Kenneth, in the attack, told NBC News. “In fact, they didn’t do anything … to go after those that attacked the Cole.”

At 11:15 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2000, the Cole — a billion dollar destroyer armed with the most advanced weapons in the U.S. naval arsenal — was docked off the coast of Yemen for refueling when it was approached by a small skiff packed with explosives and manned by two suicide bombers. The resulting explosion was a chilling precursor to the attacks on Sept. 11. It ripped a 60-by-40-foot hole in the ship’s hull, trapping the bodies of many of the dead crew members in the wreckage.

In the days after the attack, President Clinton vowed retribution against the terrorists.
“You will not find a safe harbor,” he proclaimed. “We will find you and justice will prevail.” (LOL)

Story: 10 years later, still no trial for accused USS Cole attack mastermind
But in his final months in office, Clinton never retaliated against al-Qaida, frustrating some of his own counter terrorism advisors. Clinton later told the 9/11 commission he was never shown hard proof that Osama bin Laden’s operatives were behind the attack.

But two senior investigators — one with the FBI and another with the Naval Criminal Investigative Task Force — recently told NBC News there was actually compelling evidence that al-Qaida was responsible for the bombing almost immediately. Two of the Cole bombers arrested by Yemeni security forces confessed their role and told investigators they were working for two top al-Qaida operatives known to U.S. intelligence — information that was quickly made available to FBI and naval investigative agents.
…
“Think about the optics,” he said, “You had a billion dollar warship nearly sank, with 17 Americans killed. You had the United States not doing anything publicly about it. Bin Laden and al-Qaida were able to issue a series of videotapes crowing about their achievement. So, if I’m an impressionable young man who aspires to conduct jihad, and I see what al-Qaida did and they weren’t held responsible, hell yeah, I’m going to go toward them. And that, in effect, is what happened.”

More here if you can stomach it
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39622062/ns/us_news-security/t/us-failure-retaliate-uss-cole-attack-rankled-then-now/#.XDC1vFVKh0w

http://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/101011-USS-Cole-hmed-4p.grid-8×2.jpg

Model of ship and damage.

Whatever happened to the muslum USN sailor who facilitated this attack by providing ship berthing information to Al Qaida? Maybe he employed a non-guilty by reason of mental disease or defect defense?

So today is a good day then.

May they all meet such a fate

If it were up to the Commiecrats the USA would force the Saudis to end their war against the terrorists running Yeman.