USS Cole

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For USS Cole Victims' Families, Justice Is a Long Time Coming

17 Americans died in 2000; the trial has yet to begin

(Newser) - Eleven months before the 9/11 attacks came al-Qaeda's attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen. Seventeen sailors died. It would be two years before Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was arrested for allegedly organizing the bombing—and more than two decades later, his trial has yet to...

Military Judge Allows Info Obtained During Torture

Law expert says it's a break with rules set by Congress

(Newser) - When Congress laid out rules for military tribunals, it decreed that "no statement obtained by the use of torture or by cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, whether or not under color of law, shall be admissible in a military commission." But in what may be a first, a...

Trump Confirms: USS Cole Mastermind Is Dead

Tweets salute to 'GREAT MILITARY' who took out Jamal al-Badawi in Yemen strike

(Newser) - President Trump is confirming reports that the US has killed the mastermind behind the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, reports Fox News . "Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole," tweeted the president on Sunday....

America Gets Vengeance for USS Cole Bombing: Official

Seems Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi was killed

(Newser) - The mastermind behind the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole is apparently dead. A US administration official tells CNN that an American airstrike in Yemen on Tuesday killed al-Qaeda commander Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Badawi, CNN reports. Officially, US Central Command says Al-Badawi was targeted in "precision strike" but...

Gitmo Terror Suspect Gets 'Least Qualified' Lawyer

But Alaric Piette says he didn't have a choice after terror suspect al-Nashiri's legal team quit

(Newser) - Navy Lt. Alaric Piette acknowledges the "contradiction" of his latest role: to defend a Guantanamo Bay prisoner accused of terrorism and who just a few years back would've been one of Piette's targets. "On another day, I could have easily taken my client out," Piette...

Lawyers Defending Suspect in Bombing of USS Cole Quit

Civilian lawyers accuse government of eavesdropping on their legal meetings

(Newser) - In what the Miami Herald calls "a stunning setback," the entire civilian legal defense team in a Guantanamo Bay death-penalty case has quit over claims the government was eavesdropping on confidential meetings with its client. Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri was arraigned six years ago on charges he spearheaded...

US Navy's New Toy: Unmanned Swarm Boats

Would have prevented bombing of USS Cole, officials say

(Newser) - Self-guided unmanned patrol boats that can leave warships they're protecting and swarm and attack potential threats on the water could join the Navy's fleet within a year, defense officials say, adding the new technology could one day help stop attacks like the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS...

CIA Had Chance to Kill bin Laden in '99: Ex-Spy

'We do not have a license to kill,' agent told informant

(Newser) - An Afghan guerrilla leader offered to hand Osama bin Laden to the CIA on a silver platter in 1999, asking for nothing more than the $5 million bounty the Clinton administration had already placed on the terrorist leader's head, but the CIA demurred, a former Polish spy alleges in...

Drone Strike Kills al-Qaeda Leader in Yemen

Fahd al-Quso was wanted for role in USS Cole bombing

(Newser) - A top al-Qaeda leader wanted by the FBI died in a drone airstrike today, Yemeni officials say. Fahd al-Quso was stepping out of his car in a remote mountain valley of Yemen when the missile attack struck him and an aide, reports the AP . No comment so far from Washington,...

USS Cole Terrorist Faces Capital Charges Again

Original charges were dropped because suspect was tortured

(Newser) - One of the "high-value" detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with planning the 2000 terrorist attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 US sailors, reports the LA Times . Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, a Saudi of Yemeni descent, faces the death penalty if convicted...

Mock Executions Among CIA Torture Tactics

(Newser) - A report long suppressed by Bush administration officials set to be released next week says the CIA used mock executions as part of post-9/11 interrogations, Newsweek reports—though federal law prohibits threatening prisoners with “imminent death,” and the practice wasn’t authorized by the Justice Department, unlike other...

Obama Meets With 9/11 Families
 Obama Meets With 9/11 Families 

Obama Meets With 9/11 Families

President moves to reassure families over his plans for terror suspects

(Newser) - Barack Obama met yesterday with people who lost relatives in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole in an effort to reassure them about his plans for detained al-Qaeda suspects, McClatchy Newspapers reports. The president hugged some of the 40 attendees at the highly emotional...

US Drops Charges Against Cole Suspect
US Drops Charges Against Cole Suspect
updated

US Drops Charges Against Cole Suspect

Obama meets families of victims, including 9/11, tomorrow

(Newser) - The US withdrew charges—at least temporarily—against the main suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing tonight, ABC News reports. They could be reinstated once the Obama administration works out the logistics of handling the cases of Gitmo detainees. President Obama, meanwhile, will meet face-to-face with families of victims...

Gitmo Judge Refuses Obama's Order to Delay Trials

Delay in USS Cole case 'does not serve the interest of justice,' Army colonel says

(Newser) - The lead judge in the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals has refused President Obama’s order to suspend legal proceedings against one of the terror prison’s detainees, Reuters reports. Army Col. James Pohl said tribunal rules give him sole authority to delay litigation in the case of Abd al Rahim...

Judge in Gitmo Driver Trial Nixes Interrogation Evidence

Afghanistan questioning of Hamdan came after stress, without lawyer: defense

(Newser) - A military judge at the war-crimes tribunal for Osama bin Laden’s alleged driver today barred evidence from a series of 2002 interrogations in Afghanistan, the Miami Herald reports. Salim Hamdan says he was subjected to sleep deprivation and was not offered a lawyer; his defense team wants all interrogations...

Gitmo Prisoner Charged in Cole Bombing

Torture claims will be central to defense

(Newser) - A suspected al-Qaeda terrorist held at Guantanamo Bay for six years has been charged with masterminding the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors and injured 50 others. The treatment of Saudi prisoner Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri in custody, which included waterboarding by interrogators, will be a...

8 Years On, USS Cole Case Cold
 8 Years On, USS Cole Case Cold 

8 Years On, USS Cole Case Cold

Stymied by escapes and releases, investigators have gotten nowhere

(Newser) - Eight years after the daring terrorist attack on the USS Cole, the men responsible for the bombing have all either escaped prison or been released—or are in Guantanamo Bay, outside the reach of US courts. Though Bill Clinton promised justice, George Bush took office three months later, and 9/11...

Ex-Sailor Convicted in Terror Case
Ex-Sailor Convicted in Terror Case

Ex-Sailor Convicted in Terror Case

Navy signalman told al-Qaeda group about ship movements

(Newser) - A jury in Connecticut convicted a former Navy sailor today of passing along classified information about US ships in the Persian Gulf to terrorists, the AP reports. Prosecutors said Phoenix native Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, sent details about naval ship movements to a group affiliated with al-Qaeda in April of 2001....

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