Friday, October 20, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
7
USS Cole Attack
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
Clinton warns Cole bombers: We'll find you
Tribune Media Services
NORFOLK, Va. — Flanked by giant warships as gray as the sky above, President Clinton paid tribute to the USS Cole's 17 dead and 39 injured sailors Wednesday as victims of terror who "rose to freedom's challenge."
At a somber ceremony in which some of the wounded watched as they lay in hospital gurneys, the
Clinton: honored the USS Cole's 17 dead and 39 injured sailors Wednesday
"You will not have a safe harbor." Clinton warned "We will find you. Justice will prevail."
Defense Secretary William Cohen called it "an act of pure evil."
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh provided the first sign that such talk may be more than just bluster. In an interview televised by a Qatar satellite station, he said his investigators have found the rented house of two men "who carried out the crime" by steering a boat laden with explosives alongside the destroyer last week.
In his television interview, Yemeni President Saleh was asked about reports that the two men he believes were involved in the attack might have been Saudi citizens.
"One witness said the accent was a Saudi accent," he said. "They had to be Arabs because witnesses said they were performing (Muslim) prayers. They may be Yemenis or other Arabs."
General defends refueling decision
Middle East port had best conditions out of all choices
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Middle East port where the US Cole met disaster was the best place to refuel Navy ships in a region full of terrorist "rats' nests," retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinnia said yesterday.
"It was my decision," the former commander of the region told senators a week after the bombing in Amen, Yemen, that killed 17 sailors. "I pass that buck on to nobody."
Zinnia, who retired earlier this year, was commander in chief of US. Central Command in December 1998 when the Pentagon contracted for refueling services in the Yemen port.
He was the first witness in a two-day hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee to review how the Defense Department, State Department and other agencies came to approve use of the port of Amen, despite its reputation as a safe haven for terrorists.
"The American people are entitled to know the facts and understand how these decisions are made," said the committee's chairman, Sent John Warner, R-Va.
"The one question I keep hearing from the families of the crew of the US Cole. is: 'Why Yemen?'"
Zinnia said he and the rest of the American government were aware that terrorists use Yemen as a transit route.
"Their coast is a sieve," he said.
Yet there was no better alternative for ships that have to refuel while moving to and from the Persian Gulf, Zinnia said, listing some of the other options the Navy had.
"Sudan? Obviously not," he said. "Saudi Arabia? Back in 1997, when we were making this decision, we had just had two bombings in Saudi Arabia. We lost 24 people."
"I don't want anyone to
The port of Gibbet, on the Horn of
"I don't want anyone to think we ever, in any instance ... took a risk for the purpose of a better relationship with a country and put a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine at risk for that reason."
Anthony Zinnia retired Marine General
Africa and just across the Gulf of Amen from Yemen, had been used. But that refueling contract was terminated in 1997 because the facilities were unsatisfactory and the threat conditions were far worse.
SOURCES: U.S. Naw, AP, Reuters, KRT News in Motion Graphic/TIM GOHEEN, BILK ABER
That left "options that were not very good." Zinnia said.
US. intelligence had not detected specific threats to American interests in Amen, and the threat conditions in Yemen, he said, were actually better than we had elsewhere, including Saudi Arabia.
Zinnie told the committee that he checked on the refueling arrangements in a series of visits to Amen between May 1998 and May 2000.
Each time, Zinnia said, it was clear to him that the Yemen government was sincere in wanting American help in controlling its coastline and fighting terrorism.
He said he would oppose any suggestion that US. withhold aid from Yemen unless it is certified to be cooperating in the investigation of the Cole bombing.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the United States gave Yemen roughly $3 million for military training, preparation for the planned 2001 election and removal of land mines from its civil war — plus $20 million worth of wheat flour and other commodities, the State Department said.
"In the Central Command region, there are rats' nests or havens for
terrorists: Afghanistan with the Tailbone; Sudan; Somalia," he said. "We don't need Yemen to become another one. We need to provide every incentive to make sure they don't."
Later in the day, in a closed door session, the FBI updated committee members on progress it is making in its investigation of the Cole tragedy.
The Cole and its mission
1. June 21: Left Norfolk, Va.; scheduled to return Dec. 21.
2. Oct. 16: Sailed through Suez Canal into Red Sea.
3. Oct. 19: Stopped at Aden, Yemen, for a 4-hour refueling stop.
4. Destination: Bahrain
U.S. FORCES IN REGION
He emphatically denied, however, that the military overlooked security problems because it wanted to improve relations with the government of Yemen.
"I don't want anyone to think we ever, in any instance, took a risk for the purpose of a better relationship with a country and put a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine at risk for that reason." Zinnia said.
AIX Powered
Aircraft Abraham Lincoln,
two guided missile cruisers, Cole
and five other destroyers, two
guided missile frigates, one attack
submarine, one amphibious
assault ship with 2,100 marines.
More peacekeeping forces have
been deployed to the area.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
© 2000 KR1
The Navy announced it recovered the last four bodies of sailors killed in the Thursday, Oct. 12 blast. Thirteen bodies already had been flown to the United States, and the final four will be returned home soon.
FBI director Louis Freeh, who was in Yemen for talks with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, toured the crime scene, calling it a "tangled mess of metal and wire."
- The Pentagon named two men as co-chairs for an independent investigation into the bombing, with emphasis on improving security. They are retired Army general William Crouch, whose last job was vice chief of staff of the Army, and Harold Gehman, former commander of Joint Forces Command at the Cole's home port of Norfolk, Va.
Attorney General Janet Reno told a news conference that the United States is doing all it can to help the Yemeni police in their investigation. She would not say whether any eventual prosecution might take place in Yemen. The United States apparently has no arrangements with Yemen to extradite suspects, but could still seek to prosecute anyone arrested for involvement in the bombing.
veteran sportscaster
Tom Hedrick
will sign his new book:
The Art of Sporscasting How to Build a Successful Career
Kansas and Burge Unions
(paperback, $24.95, Diamond Communications)
At the Mt. Oread Bookshop 9 am - 11am Saturday, Oct 21 before the Homecoming Game
Mt. Dread Bookshop *Kansas Union*
Level 2 **884-4313** www.jayhawka.com
Homecoming hours: 9 am - 5 pm
Greek Thursdays
Fraternity/Sorority Leagues Thursday nights at 9:30
- Four person teams from each house
•Multiple teams OK
•Unlimited team roster
•Same 4 can bowl each week or 4 different people from the same house
•£7.00 per person per week
•No bowling during finals or Christmas break
*No bowling during finals or Christmas break
2nd place-27" TV
3rd place-Kosmic bowling party for your house
1st place-Big Screen TV
933 Iowa Call 842-1234 to reserve yours