Remember the Cole: Seven years
Watch (hat tip - CommentGuy):
Today marks the seventh anniversary of the USS Cole bombing. As Deebow at Blackfive noted, “It truly is a shame that the Old Media dinosaurs keep a daily running tab of US Service members KIA in Iraq, but give this zero coverage. Glad to know that they are on our side. Just so everyone knows, these are the names of the U.S. personnel killed aboard the USS Cole:”
1. Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow
2. Mess Management Specialist Lakina Francis
3. Information Systems Technician Tim Guana
4. Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn
5. Seaman James McDaniels
6. Engineman 2nd Class Mark Nieto
7. Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Owens
8. Seaman Recruit Lakiba Parker
9. Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett
10. Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy
11. Electronics Warfare Technician Kevin Rux
12. Petty Officer 3rd Class Ron Santiago
13. Operations Special 2nd Class Timothy Sanders
14. Fireman Gary Swenchonis Jr
15. Ensign Andrew Triplett
16. Seaman Apprentice Craig Wibberly
17. Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Clodfelter.
Here’s my October 2001 column on Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, who died in the Cole bombing, and his surviving wife and sons. The Costelow family memorial page is here.
Several escaped jihadi operatives implicated in the Cole bombing plot remain at large.
In mid-September, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh issued a stern warning to the Wa’ilah tribe in northern Yemen: turn over the six al-Qaeda suspects you are sheltering or face serious repercussions (al-Wasat, September 12). The six men that Saleh believes have found refuge with the tribe near the Saudi border are the remnants of a group of 23 prisoners that escaped from a Yemeni political security prison on February 3, 2006. The prisoners escaped by tunneling out of their cell and into a neighboring mosque, which has since been detailed in a lengthy narrative written by one of the escapees and published by the Yemeni paper al-Ghad. The escapees included a number of prominent al-Qaeda militants, among whom were individuals convicted of carrying out attacks on the USS Cole in 2000 and on the French oil tanker Limburg in 2002.
Six of these suspects have since been killed in clashes with Yemeni or U.S. forces, 11 have either turned themselves back in to authorities or have been recaptured and six of the suspects remain at large. Many of these individuals have continued to fight for al-Qaeda since their escape, and one of them, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, has since been named the new head of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Despite differences of age and background, the 23 men who were being held in the cell were linked together through shared experiences. Nearly half of the escapees, 11, were born in Saudi Arabia to Yemeni parents. Several of the men were arrested in late 2002 after a series of bombings in Sanaa and Marib. Seven of these men were part of a 15-man cell that was later charged with planning to attack five foreign embassies as well as to assassinate the then U.S. Ambassador Edmund Hull. Three of the men were convicted of being part of an 11-man cell that was charged with plotting to carry out attacks in Yemen and abroad. Among the escapees, there are also two sets of brothers, Hizam and Arif Mujali and Mansur and Zakariya al-Bayhani, who are themselves brothers of Ghalib and Tawfiq al-Bayhani, who are currently in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay. Two other escapees, Qasim al-Raymi and Fawaz al-Rabay’I, also have brothers in Guantanamo.
The Radio Patriot provides a history of the USS Cole.
Jane at the Jawa Report has a thorough review of the bombing, investigation, and the jihadi helpers in Yemen. She concludes:
The bombing of the USS Cole was one incident in a pattern of escalating al-Qaeda attacks on the US that began with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and culminated in 2001 with the deaths of nearly 3000 US citizens. In the wake of 9/11, structural procedures and adjustments have been instituted to break down the wall between US intelligence agencies. However, the tension caused by maintaining the semi-cooperation of “allies” in counter-terror efforts remains a vital issue, and no better example exists than US-Yemeni relations. In 2007, international cooperation is essential in uncovering terrorists’ plans, networks and operatives. However, many find the US focus on counter-terror both myopic and counter-productive in dealing with its allies. This view is widely held by Yemeni reformers who pay the price for their advocacy in blood. The US is perceived as tacitly approving of civil and human rights abuses as long as the regime is forth coming with counter-terror cooperation. Yemen’s progressives have a message that undermines the dictatorship, regressive forces and the terrorists. Consequently, reformists are targeted by the regime and labeled un-Islamic and Western stooges in the public media.
Yemen uses and exports Islamic fanatics as a tool of domestic and foreign policy. After the empowerment of Hamas in a democratic election, the idealistic US push for democratization and reform in the Middle East was met by the real-politik fears of radical Islamists gaining political power. In Yemen, radical Islamists already have political power and government jobs, as evidenced by the state’s failure to thwart terrorist financing, media incitement, mosque incitement, material support and moral support for terrorism. With or without official political status, elections or recognition, Yemeni Islamist militants are capable of influencing the regime and deploying state resources. And these political players are more dangerous when they are playing the game underground, while an enormous game of charades takes place in the media.
The days of “with us or against us” are certainly over as the intertwined structure between dictatorships and terrorists becomes clearer. To undermine one is to undermine the other, to support one supports the other. The natural alliance between indigenous reformists and the United States is dysfunctional in the current climate, leaving both more vulnerable. However, there are many in the Yemeni administration and some in the opposition who are quite patriotic and in favor of reform and modernization. Somehow the US must become as good at playing both sides of the fence as the Yemeni regime is.
Richard Newcomb weighs in on media apathy.
***
Previous:
Remember the Cole: Six years
Remember the Cole 2005
2005 - Nothing to see here, move along
2001 - A forgotten day of infamy
The al Qaeda jailbreak
The Navy’s USS Cole Memorial is here.
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- Take Our Country Back
- Remembering the Cole : The American Pundit
- Remembering The USS Cole : Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff
- Michelle Malkin » Outrage: USS Cole bombing mastermind freed
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Thank you for this reminder.
May their Souls Rest in Peace.
Thank you for posting this, Michelle.
There is an excellent in depth posting on the attack on the Cole at the Jawa Report.
A YouTube video tribute to the Cole.
I had the pleasure of knowing Kirk Lippold, the CO of the USS COLE back when he was a Lt Cdr and XO of the USS SHILOH. He was absolutely as good as they get. Anyone that knew him knew he worked too much, always moving, always sharp as a razor. That crazy workaholic was the man though. I felt so bad for him after the attack…life is not a bed of roses once something like that happens on your ship, whether it could have been avoided or not.
Great commemoration post Michelle, and God Bless those fine Sailors that perished that horrible day.
Touching video Commentguy. Thanks.
The Raging Republican Says: Remember how vulnerable to attack those stupid fat cats in Washington are leaving us each and every day. Seal off our boarders!
When these brave patriots laid their lives for the country, president/commander-in-chief was doing his own laying in the oval office; of the another kind. Not surprisingly, his wife, who is running for the same oval office, has no problem with her husband’s adultry. For Americans, she is just another in the long line of politicans, without morals.
Coming back to the brave sailors, they deserve the state burial of the highest order. May their noble hearts rest in everlasting peace.
God bless these brave American’s and the ones they left behind.
The servicemen and women of the Cole are heroes. I will remember them in my prayers.
Of course, this happened during the Clinton administration. Jimmy Carter just said “During the Clinton years, we kept this country safe and protected our interest around the world…and we were free.”
Guess he forgot about the Cole amidst his concern for captured jihadists. If I’m not mistaken, we’ve been free since the Revolutionary War.
Sailors rest your oars.
Wishing you fair winds and a following sea.
What still bothers me about the political flap around the Cole here was that Barbara Bodine was involved in some say obstructing the investigation by the FBI.
The lady was Ambassador to Kuwait when it was invaded, Ambassador to Yemen when the Cole was hit and after a break assigned to the embassy in Iraq until she was fired for her attitude and lack of teamwork.
She gets several passes and the CO of the Cole who was sand bagged by the Intel community was passed over for promotion and had to retire.
There was not a peep from the LSM today except a small blurb at Fox earler today.
There were 17 who died. You are missing one from your list.
Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va.
Never forget? You mean like Ron Paul who says our home land has never been attacked. Uhh, our ships are “home land”.
I will never forget - not to vote for Ron Paul.
I will really never forget this attack.
Thanks Michelle for the reminder.
Wow, what a day.
First we learn that Lt. Murphy will receive his Medal of Honor and now we get to remember these 17 brave heroes.
The honor and courage that these men displayed on a daily basis epitomizes the quality of the American military. Regardless of their branch of service or their individual job, they remain heroes in every sense of the word.
Anyone who puts on the uniform of the American military, law enforcement, firefighter or paramedic and willingly steps into the line of fire to protect me and every other American is my hero. I love each and every one of them and I will never forget the sacrifeces they make.
God bless America and Lord please open the eyes of every American so that they can clearly see the threat that Islam represents to all of us.
Indeed, fair winds and a following sea…
We’ve got a long haul ahead of us.
Let’s not forget the families of the Cole. They cried, prayed, slept and ate for days in the community center across from the Officer’s Club. All of them not knowing if “their” Sailor was alive, dead or wounded.
When the news came, they comforted one another, cared for each others children and were, for the most part, brave in the face of uncertainty and death.
God Bless them as well.
Fair winds and following seas men,
To Absent companions!!
This is what woke me up to the Islamic threat. I could not believe that one of our warships was attacked and our soldiers were killed like that. It was after this attack that I realized that we were at war.
I know I was late, the embassy bombings in Africa had already happened. The first WTC bombing had happened too.
Those incidents did not have the effect that this one did. This event really hacked me off. I am still mad about it. I don’t want ‘revenge’, but the world needs to know that you can NOT do this type of thing to the USA.
I was glad most of the rest of the world woke up after 9/11. I feel bad that I did not wake up before this. But sadly, I am afraid that the world is going back to sleep after being woken up by 9/11. We need to remember these things.
As for the media and what they cover. They are now happily covering the conflict in (formerly peaceful) Kurdish areas of Iraq. Turkey is now attacking the Kurds in Iraq.
I believe that Pelosi wanted to cause strife in that part of Iraq by bringing this legislation about the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in WWI to the House. She, the Democrats, and the media are hoping that more war problems will help the Congress’ approval rating improve.
Of course Bill Clinton was against such a resolution when he was President. But Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress are hell bent on making sure America loses. And the media are hell bent on covering stories about America losing (whether or not that’s actually the case).
America needs to wake up and realize that political gain can come at the destruction of this country. And liberals are not above it. Liberals are the only Americans who believe Americans (conservatives/Republicans) are the ‘enemy’.
It would be shameful, but I don’t believe politicians have any shame as long as they get elected.
Here is a tribute page to the Cole I just found on the web.
Sooner or later, it will come down to who is for America and Americans and who is not (There will be many confusing ‘maybes’). Given the corrupt / sell-out whitehouse, state dept, judiciary and DHS, even though not smooth and politically savvy, Americans are safer voting a patriot, however controvercial (after all, we don’t want a fence-sitter any more), like Tom Tancredo. In all his limitations, the man’s heart beats for America. His record speaks for himself: http://www.teamtancredo.typepad.com
For those who wonder what has Predisency, 2008 got to do with USS Cole, if you connect the dots, they unfailingly connect to the timid, corrupt sellout lost to carnal pleasures, defiling the highest office of the nation, while brave and patriotic soldiers were slaughtered by barbaric Islamists. Look into your hearts and pick a president, who cares for Americans, not for criminals or blood-thirsty wahhabies, and you will see Tom head and shoulders above his peers.
Finally, a tribute to the patriotic heart of Michelle, which beats for America. If only, MSM had half of Michelle’s integrity and patriotism.
Hoping not to offend anyone,but in watching commentguy’s touching video(thank you commentguy)the thing that really impressed me was the ethnic diversity of those heroes.The Left is constantly clamoring about how the right is all white ,male ,Christian exclusivists who can’t or won’t tolerate anything outside their own narrow world view.Yet it is the conservatives who actively keep the memory of the fallen heroes alive.Black,white,Crhistian,Jew Muslem or whatever they died defending our freedom and should be remembered for the true heroes that they are.
Michelle,
Thanks for reminding us an important event that has led to this war against Islamic fascist. I had several people I have served with wounded in the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia and my blood gets up thinking about the Clinton administration treating these attacks as a criminal matter instead of an act of all out war. Since the 1960s those of us who have served in uniform have been targets of opportunity for terrorists from many ideologies and countries. Because we are a symbol of the American dream so many either hate or are just plain jealous of it has always been a risk most of us in uniform have been and are still willing to take. My condolences to the families of these murdered sailors, only when we forget them to they truly die.
I found it sad not a single MSM outlet did a story honoring the people who died in the attack.
It is rather ironic,the U.S.S.Cole,was hit the day before the Navy’s 225th.Birthday.
Thanks to Real Patriots,like Michelle Malkin,the memory of this trajedy,will live on.To the U.S.Navy,Happy 332nd.birthday.To the crew who paid the ultimate price,on 10/12/2000,Thanks,and God Bless.
http://www.gtr5.com/summary_of_events.htm
I agree ThackerAgency, too many people in this country have gone back to sleep concerning the world war going on. I cry nearly everyday when I hear how the politicians are selling this country to the highest bidder. I look at my grandsons and wonder what kind of future will they have. What I don’t understand is how people can just forget what 9-11 represented. WE ARE AT WAR for our future survival!
Curiously enough there is no mention of Iraq. Yet, Saudia Arabia is mentioned repeatedly. No, I am not dismissing Iraq’s complicity in terrorism though I am wondering why there was a focus on Iraq when Saudi Arabia is front and center in so many terrorist plots.
Iraq was our tool that we used to deal with Iran. (We sold them chemical and biological weapons to deal with Iran.) You don’t throw out your tools, you sharpen them. And, now without our tool Iran is a problem. But, don’t forget the source of our problem is and remains Saudi Arabia.
Iran is supplying weapons but who is pulling the trigger? The Cole incident is just more proof that our war on terror, particularly the Iraqi front on that war, is misguided.
Recall that it was 15 SAUDI ARABIANS that perpertraited 9/11. And, it was Yemenis that attacked the USNS Cole.
Thanks Michelle for showing this very touching video of these brave sailors who gave up their lives in a split second. I don’t recall any of the GOP or DEMO leaders or any of the MSM mentioning of this tragedy. I don’t see how any American cannot be touched by this and the music was beautiful. Where did you get the music to accompany this?
May God bless and keep them, all! I absolutely will never forget.
Also, I absolutely will not forget that the Clintons did nothing about it… NOTHING!!!
==================================
zzyzg,
I was in the Saudi Ministry of Defense, on the day the Marine barracks were bombed. I saw the beaming grins on officers in the military of “our friends” the Saudis. You are correct in that the Saudis are no more our “freinds”, than anybody else in the region.
However…..
I was also working for MODA, in Riyadh, during the entire Iran/Iraq war. It was one hell of a lot more complicated than the United States playing puppet master.
That war has it’s underpinnings in ethnic, regional hatred, oil, and regional/local politics. Arab/Persian, Shia/Sunni hatred, dating back for centuries and millennia had a lot to do with it. The need to transport oil from Iraq did too. It was also for strategic and political power.
In a nutshell.. Saddam needed to keep the Gulf Of Arabia (Persian Gulf) open to move his oil. The Iranians were threatening to shut down the Gulf. So, he used Arab/Persian, and Shia/Sunni hatred to garner popular support, and to use as an excuse for a war. The other Arab powers egged him. The United States saw it as a win/win if the two most unstable regimes in the area were distracted. It kept them out of everybody else’s hair and kept the Gulf open. Never the less, that war was Saddam’s idea. Not the United States’ doing.
The Germans and other Europeans, as well as the Soviets, assisted Saddam in developing chemical weapons. The United States did not “sell” nor “give” him anything for chemical weapons. The U.S. sold/gave him few other weapons, as well.
All Gave Some, Some Gave All.
R.I.P., May God Bless and Keep You.