USS Cole ‹ An American is the Prime Suspect Boston Globe ------------ Ex-Everett man reportedly eyed in attack on USS Cole By Judy Rakowsky, Globe Staff, 12/6/2000 US citizen who is a former resident of Everett and drove a taxi in Boston is reportedly considered to be a prime suspect in the Oct. 12 attack on the USS Cole. NBC quoted a US source as saying that Raed M. Hijazi has been the top suspect for some time in the blast that killed 17 sailors in the Yemeni port of Aden. Hijazi was last known to have lived in Everett three years ago, and still has a valid Massachusetts driver's license. Last year, the FBI's counterterrorism squad was on alert for any signs that he might have returned to the Boston area. Hijazi was taken into custody by the Syrian government in September, before the Cole bombing. The Syrians turned him over to Jordan, where he had already been tried, convicted and sentenced to death in absentia. His crime: plotting to attack US and Israeli targets during millennium celebrations. Jordan now plans to retry him. Sources told NBC that Hijazi ''personally trained and supported'' the people responsible for the Cole attack. US officials had been tracking Hijazi for at least eight months. Hijazi also is said to have direct ties to Osama bin Laden, the Americans' top suspect in the bombing of the Cole. Thirty-nine US sailors were also injured in the attack. No one has been charged in the bombing of the Cole, although Yemeni authorities have indicated they are poised to indict at least two people. US officials have already visited Hijazi in jail in Amman and US officials plan to seek his extradition to US soil to be tried in connection with the Cole attack, a bid they expect to be made easier by Hijazi's American citizenship. Hijazi was implicated last year in the plots to disrupt millennium celebrations. But while 13 other alleged members of a terrorist ring were arrested last December on Christmas Eve, Hijazi escaped. Agents went door to door in Everett last December showing neighbors pictures of Hijazi to see if anyone recognized him. There was confusion at the time on his exact age. His Massachusetts driver's license indicates he is 22 years old, but a former neighbor of Hijazi's said last year that he thought he was considerably older. Joseph Li said at the time that Hijazi had lived downstairs with two younger men and that he frequently saw his taxicab in front of the two-family house on Appleton street. When Hijazi and the other two men left abruptly in 1997, Li said, they left no forwarding address. This story ran on page A9 of the Boston Globe on 12/6/2000.
