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2:38 PM
Reut R. Cohen
Oct. 12, 2000 al Qaeda suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, as it sat in a Yemen port. The attack was unprovoked and claimed the lives of 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole. Over the last 24 hours charges have been dropped against bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri despite his confession to helping plot the attack on the USS Cole. This latest decision has denied justice to the families of the victims.The Pentagon's senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama's order to freeze military tribunals there.
The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.
The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama's Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.
Families of 9/11 victims met with Obama on Friday afternoon. Retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole when it was bombed in Yemen in October 2000, said he will be among family members of Cole and 9/11 victims who are meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday afternoon.
Groups representing victims' families were angered by Obama's order, charging they had waited too long already to see the alleged attackers brought to court.
"I was certainly disappointed with the decision to delay the military commissions process," Lippold, now a defense adviser to Military Families United, said in an interview Thursday night. "We have already waited eight years. Justice delayed is justice denied. We must allow the military commission process to go forward."
Crawford was appointed to her post in 2007 by then-President George W. Bush. She was in the news last month when she said interrogation methods used on one suspect at Guantanamo amounted to torture. The Bush administration had maintained it did not torture.
Last year, al-Nashiri said during a Guantanamo hearing that he confessed to helping plot the Cole bombing only because he was tortured by U.S. interrogators. The CIA has admitted he was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding, which simulates drowning, in 2002 and 2003 while being interrogated in secret CIA prisons.
I find this latest news rather disgusting. Ex-Gitmo detainees who murdered Americans and should have been charged and brought to justice have returned to terrorism in places like Yemen. Yet Jonathan Pollard, who did not kill or hurt any American, has yet to be released from prison and is serving an unfair prison sentence. While he committed a crime and deserved to be charged, the sentence does not fit the crime. Even agents who have committed far more serious offenses on behalf of hostile nations have not received such a harsh sentence. The median sentence for the offense Pollard committed - one count of passing classified information to an ally - is 2 to 4 years. Pollard received his life sentence without a trial.
Also See:
- 9/11 kin sees face of terror; condemn plan to shut down Gitmo
6 comments. Leave a comment:
nice going obama. i didnt like mccain, but he was the lesser of two evils. obama will be like jimmy carter on steroids.
You had me until you got to the Pollard comments which anyone who has done even a modicum of research will recognize as a complete fabrication. It makes me dubious of the entire post.
Anonymous 2: Why would you say the comments about Pollard are a fabrication? I am not condoning what Pollard did, but he is serving a sentence that does not fit the crime. Other spies who have done actual damage have served two to four years (sometimes even less). Agents who have committed far more serious offenses on behalf of hostile (not ally) nations have not received such a harsh sentence. Pollard is basically going to die in prison while terrorists who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks have re-joined Al Qaeda. That seems a bit unfair.
I am a non-Jew who is quite a bit older than you I recall the Pollard plea agreement and the public campaigns since the 1980s.
It is important to recognize why Pollard did what he did by passing along information to Israel about terror groups. The United States was withholding this information. Was it vital? Pollard thought it was but we'll never know the full extent. According to Pollard the information he acquired was about Soviet arms shipments to Syria, Iraqi and Syrian chemical weapons, Pakistani atomic bomb projects, and the Libyan air defense systems.
What he did was not immoral but he did break the law so he suffered the consequences. The sentence for his crimes is inflated when one considers how many spies of enemy countries who have carried out or orchestrated attacks on US soil have been let go after a few months to a couple of years.
To your previous commenter I would say that he or she needs to file an FOIA to read some of the details of the case before dismissing it. Pollard's site also has some information about his case. What struck me the most was the remorse he has shown for what he did. I don't think other spies have expressed such remorse. Anyone who believes that the US doesn't have spies in both hostile and ally countries must be a little bit naive. All countries operate this way. The difference is an Israeli spy is not the same as an Iranian or Chinese spy. Xiaodong Sheldon Meng was let go after two years. Abdul Kader Helmy was given four years but let go after two. Mohammad Reza Alavi who took engineering and nuclear information to Iran with him received 15 months in jail! As an American I find this outrageous.
I have supported Israel for many years and I love America dearly. On September 11th I lost my cousin in the 94th floor of the North Tower. Today terrorists who organized this attack are being let go. This is terrifying. Israel understands the effects of terrorism well. They have terrorist attacks against civilians regularly. I understand Israel's desire to protect their citizens from such harm.
Reut, I agree with almost everything you said except that Pollard was wrong.
MC,
I respect your opinion. However, I disagree. Breaking the law is wrong. Pollard knows he broke the law. I chose to end this post with comments about Pollard because I think it is a good point for comparison. To put it as simply as possible, it is wrong to free spies of hostile nations and pardon terrorists who have killed Americans while letting someone like Pollard die in prison for a lesser offense. Dozens of spies, who sold nuclear technology to hostile nations and are responsible for deaths of US agents, have been pardoned.
While I understand Obama's desire to close down Guantanamo Bay, his administration has a mess on their hands. The fact that they dropped charges against a terrorist who admitted his involvement with the USS Cole bombing is outrageous. Families have been denied justice. I hope that charges can be brought against the terrorist again but this may take a while. There have already been ex-Gitmo detainees who have returned to Yemen and Pakistan to continue their terrorist activities.
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