Lest We Forget: USS Cole Attacked Ten Years Ago October 12th

October 12, 2008: Presidential hopeful and front runner Barack Obama has doubts about the threat of Islamo Terrorism. Obama wants to gut the military and believes we can end the need for nuclear weapons. He is the wrong choice in these difficult times.

Remember those who lost their lives while keeping us free on the USS Cole.

On October 12th at 11:18AM in the port of Aden, Yemen the USS Cole was attacked by al-Qaeda suicide bombers in a small rubber boat loaded with about 700 pounds of C-4 explosives, blowing a 40 x 40 foot hole in the vessel and killing 17 brave Americans.

The following lists the names of those killed in the terrorist attack on USS Cole.

• Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va.
• Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, 35, of Morrisville, Pa.
• Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, of Woodleaf, N.C.
• Information Systems Technician Timothy Lee Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas
• Signalman Seaman Cherone Louis Gunn, 22, of Rex, Ga.
• Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19, of Norfolk, Va.
• Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto, 24, of Fond du Lac, Wis.
• Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class Ronald Scott Owens, 24, of Vero Beach, Fla.
• Seaman Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22, of San Diego, Calif.
• Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon Parlett, 19, of Churchville, Md.
• Fireman Patrick Howard Roy, 19, of Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.
• Electronics Warfare Technician First Class Kevin Shawn Rux, 30, of Portland, N.D.
• Mess Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22, Kingsville, Texas
• Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32, of Ringgold, Va.
• Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., 26, Rockport, Texas
• Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss.
• Seaman Craig Bryan Wibberley, 19, of Williamsport, Md.

Yemeni sources say the attack on the USS Cole was not the first attempt to blow up an American warship in Aden harbour. An attack on the American destroyer, USS Sullivans, in January 3rd, 2000 had to be abandoned because the attackers’ boat almost sank under the weight of explosives. It appears that as a result of this the bombers called on an unnamed foreign expert for advice, and that the expert may have helped to shape the charge used against the Cole, maximising its effect.

Al-Qaeda has been murdering Americans for over 13 years.

• 1993 February 26th – World Trade Center truck bombing, 6 persons were killed, and more than 1,000 injured.
• 1998 August 7th – Truck bombings at U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 5,000 others.
• 2000 October 12th – Suicide boat attack of the USS Cole, 17 killed, 39 injured.
• 2001 September 11th – 2 hijacked airplanes crashed into each tower of the World Trade Center, 2,602 died and another 24 remain listed as missing.
• 2001 September 11th – American Airlines Flight 77, forcibly crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. Killing 59 passengers and crew and an additional 125 were killed in the building. Passengers and members of the flight crew on the fourth aircraft, United Airlines Flight 93 attempted to retake control of their plane from the hijackers; that plane crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing 40.

In December 1999 and into 2000, al-Qaeda planned attacks against U.S. and Israeli tourists visiting Jordan for millennial celebrations; however, Jordanian authorities thwarted the planned attacks and put 28 suspects on trial. Part of this plot included the planned bombing of the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, but this plot was foiled when bomber Ahmed Ressam was caught at the US-Canadian border with explosives in the trunk of his car.

German police foiled a plot to destroy a cathedral in Strasbourg, France in December 2000. Several attacks and attempted attacks since September 11, 2001 have been attributed to al-Qaeda. The first of which was the Paris embassy attack plot, which was foiled. The second of which involved the attempted shoe bomber Richard Reid, who proclaimed himself a follower of Osama bin Laden, and who intended to destroy American Airlines Flight 63 and its passengers.

Other attacks ascribed to al-Qaeda and its affiliates:

• The Singapore embassies attack plot.
• The kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and numerous bombings in Pakistan.
• The El Ghriba synagogue bombing in Djerba, Tunisia, which killed 21.
• Foiled attacks on Western warships in the Strait of Gibraltar.
• The Limburg tanker bombing.
• A November 2002 car bombing in Mombasa, Kenya, and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner.
• Bombings of Western compounds in Riyadh in May 2003 and other attacks of the Saudi insurgency.
• The Istanbul bombings in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2003.
• October 2002 Bali bombing, and the 2005 Bali bombings.
• March 11, 2004 attacks on commuter trains in Madrid.
• April 3, 2004, in Leganes, Madrid, four Arab militants blew themselves up, killing one special assault police and wounding eleven.
• July 7, 2005 London bombings, a series of attacks against mass transit in London which killed 52 people, not including the 4 suicide bombers.
• July 23, 2005, Sharm el-Sheikh, a series of suspected car bombs killed about 90 civilians and wounded over 150. The attack was the deadliest terrorist action in the history of Egypt.
• November 9, 2005 Amman, Jordan attacks in which three simultaneous bombings occurred at American owned hotels in Amman. The blast killed at least 57 people and injured 120 people. Most of the injured and killed were attending a wedding at the Radisson Hotel.

There are more examples and more to come unless those that think of appeasement and negotiating with ruthless killers join the battle and stop them once and for all.