-Caveat Lector-
ABC NEWS
Yemen Attack Warning
Terror Suspect in 1998 Allegedly Told of Plans Against a U.S. Warship
By John McWethy
W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 30 — In the days after the August 1998
bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Mohamed Al-Owhali was
arrested by Kenyan authorities and interrogated by the FBI.
He told the FBI he participated in the attack and had deep ties
to alleged terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, according to court
records in his trial, in which FBI documents claim he personally
asked bin Laden for an assignment and got Kenya.
ABCNEWS has learned he also provided details of a plan to attack
an American warship in Yemen. Al-Owhali, whom bin Laden has
hailed as one of the martyrs in American jails, said it would be
a Katyusha rocket attack conducted by a terrorist cell and it
would come in the next few months, ABCNEWS has learned.
This plan may have been the seed that later grew into the USS
Cole attack.
Roughly two years later, on Oct. 12, 2000, a small boat carrying
explosives bombed the Navy warship USS Cole in Yemen's Aden
harbor, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39. Eight months
earlier, on Jan. 3, sources tell ABCNEWS, terrorists had
attempted to attack the USS Sullivans in the same harbor but
their boat sank.
Following an investigation into security precautions taken prior
to the Cole attack, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen on Jan.
19 faulted himself and the entire chain of command for
insufficient protective planning ahead of the attack. Cohen told
reporters U.S. intelligence needed to be improved and he noted
that conspirators had watched for a year prior to the Cole attack
to see how U.S. warships refueled in Aden.
The Navy, in its own investigation, concluded that security
lapses on the Cole itself were not serious enough to warrant
punishing the commanding officer, Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, or any of
his crew.
Opening statements in Al-Owhali's embassy bombing trial could
begin as early as next week. A U.S. federal judge on Monday
decided not to throw out Al-Owhali's confession on the embassy
bombing, which Al-Owhali, 24, argued in court papers had been
coerced.
Classified Message Was Sent
The morning after Al-Owhali told of the planned attack, Aug.
26. 1998, the FBI sent out a classified message under FBI
Director Louis Freeh’s name warning of a plot to attack "a U.S.
Navy ship" in Yemen.
The FBI message went to three Pentagon agencies and, as a result,
the visit of one American warship to Yemen was canceled.
It also came as Gen. Anthony Zinni was finalizing an agreement
for refueling ships in Aden. But it apparently left no lasting
impression with Zinni.
"And in fact, Aden never had a specific terrorist threat," Zinni
said at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct.
19. "All the other ports that have been mentioned here that we
should have considered as options have had specific threats."
Was It Received?
So what happened to the FBI warning?
CIA officials say they never received either the warning or
details of Al-Owhali's interrogation. FBI officials say they did
copy the CIA.
Another problem: The FBI warning gave no source for its
information and said it was "uncorroborated" information of
"undetermined reliability."
Military officials say it would have been extremely helpful to
know that the FBI warning came from a man who was already
arrested for allegedly committing a major act of terrorism, who
had been granted partial immunity to provide more details and who
had deep ties to Yemen — having briefly lived there and
repeatedly telephoned an operative there after he'd left.
Officials are still trying to figure out why such crucial
information seemed to disappear within the bureaucracy.
It might not have prevented the attack on the USS Cole, officials
say. But it could have made all 28 U.S. ships that refueled
there much more cautious and that could have saved lives.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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