Gitmo Confession To USS Cole Plot
Pentagon: Suspect Also Admits Role In Planning Bombings Of U.S. Embassies In Africa
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Seventeen sailors were killed when suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the USS Cole. Damage to the Cole, anchored at the port of Aden, Yemen, is seen in this October 27, 2000 file photo. (AP)
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The transcript released Monday was the fourth from the hearings the military is holding in private for 14 "high-value" terror suspects who were kept in secret CIA prisons before they were sent to the U.S. facility in Cuba last fall.
Last week, Waleed bin Attash said he helped plan the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200, according to the transcript. He also said he helped organize the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in which suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the guided-missile destroyer, killing 17 sailors.
"I participated in the buying or purchasing of the explosives," bin Attash said when asked what his role was in the attacks. "I put together the plan for the operation a year and a half prior to the operation, buying the boat and recruiting the members that did the operation."
Also alleged to have been Osama bin Laden's bodyguard at one time, bin Attash is in his late 20s and is a Yemeni who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, authorities have said. Said to be an al Qaeda operational chief, bin Attash is known as Tawfiq bin Attash or Tawfiq Attash Khallada or simply Khallad. He was captured in 2003.
U.S. intelligence documents allege that bin Attash is a "scion of a prominent terrorist family" that includes his father, Mohammed, who was close to bin Laden, and younger brother Hassan, who has been held at Guantanamo since 2004, arriving at the age of 17.
Several brothers attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s and two have been killed, one in a 2001 U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan, the U.S. says.
Bin Attash told a March 12 hearing that he met with the man who did the embassy bombings just a few hours before the operation took place, according to the transcript released by the Defense Department
"I was the link between Osama bin Laden and his deputy," Abu Ayyub al-Masri, bin Attash said. Al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took over the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last June.
Bin Attash also said he was with bin Laden when the Cole was attacked while refueling in Yemen's port of Aden.
Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision to bar independent observers from the hearings, called combatant status review tribunals. Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, said "legitimate criticisms can be raised" about the confessions coming out of the hearings.
"Of course, no one's there to know, other than what we see from the transcripts and what the hearing officers hear," Tobias said.
"The claim has been that some of the confessions were extracted by torture or other activities that are inappropriate, and (there are) doubts about whether the detainees are telling the truth," he said.
Many have questioned the confession of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, also known as KSM, who claimed responsibility or partial responsibility for nearly three dozen plots including the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., according to transcripts of his March 10 hearing released last week.
Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said he has been surprised by the skepticism over the transcripts released so far.
"It dovetails with what we know," Hoffman said of the reported confessions. "With KSM, this guy was the evil genius he describes. ... In terrorism, it's a matter of keeping lots of irons in the fire and it's whichever ones are coming to fruition that you go with."
The hearings are being held to determine whether the suspects should be declared "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted by military tribunals. If, as expected, the 14 are declared enemy combatants, they could then be charged and tried under the military commissions law signed by President Bush in October.
A federal judge in Virginia last Wednesday found the government of Sudan liable for the attack on the Cole in a lawsuit in which the sailors' relatives argued that al Qaeda could not have succeeded without the African nation providing a safe haven for bin Laden and financial support. No damage amount has yet been awarded.
Lorrie Triplett of Suffolk, Va., whose husband, Andrew, died in the Cole attack, said the confession is helpful to the families of the Cole sailors because it bolsters the case they made in court.
"In some ways, it could have been coerced, you know, they just want to just blame anybody, but it's the tip of the iceberg. It is more than just him," she said.
"The thing is, we want accountability from all levels, not just the foreign nationals who pulled off the attack, who masterminded the attack, but those who let it happen within our government as well," said Jamal Gunn, 26, of Virginia Beach, Va., whose brother, Cherone Gunn, was killed aboard the Cole. Gunn said the Cole should not have stopped in Yemen because that country was on a terrorist watch list.
In the late 1990s, bin Attash allegedly alternated between serving as bin Laden's bodyguard and fighting Afghanistan's Northern Alliance force. He lost his right leg in a battlefield accident in 1997, U.S. intelligence says.
Bin Attash helped choose the Sept. 11 hijackers and made two flights on U.S. airlines to assess in-flight security procedures, authorities allege. Bin Laden wanted bin Attash to be one of the hijackers on Sept. 11, but that plan was foiled when bin Attash was arrested in Yemen in April of that year and briefly imprisoned after attempting to get a U.S. visa.
Intelligence officials say that in the months before his 2003 arrest, he and others were close to executing a plot to simultaneously attack the U.S. consulate in Karachi, westerners at the airport and westerners living in the area.
The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay opened five years ago, mostly with men captured from the war in Afghanistan. Roughly 385 prisoners are still held there and about 80 detainees are designated for release or transfer.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 86 CommentsMityWhity, sometimes I wonder if some American Liberals might really be secret Muslim operatives, kind of like the "5th Columns" in WW2, because some of them play the role so well it's scary.
This is real historical revisionism. Now let's see, who gave out the secret identity of one of our spies? Was it a liberal? No, it was the White House. Proven in a court of law.
Of course, why would a terrorist give any information at all? What advantage would it give them? Gosh, if I was tortured enough I would probably just admit to anything they wanted, too. But so long as we are happy, case closed and celebrate.
other people%u2019s mouths.
On the subject of cowardice, you made me laugh out loud, TinyWhitey. One only acts to defend themselves if they are afraid of something. The GOP is the party of cowards. Republicans are frightened of everything, from women and minorities to Commies and terrorists, atheists, immorality and ***, and particularly, change, open-mindedness and Liberals.
But that%u2019s ok. We%u2019re afraid too. The difference is, you%u2019re afraid of boogeymen, so you act to protect your personal safety. We%u2019re afraid of what you%u2019re doing to America, so we act to protect it from people like you. That's a little thing we call patriotism. Look it up.
Posted by random_radar
I HAVE NO DOUBT THE GUY WOULD HAVE CONFESSED TO BEING A 'THREE-TOED, SPECKLED TREE-FROG'.
There's even some of the "Black helicopter" loons claiming it's all a conspiracy!!
LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by MityWhity
Well mighty witty, it could be said that being a funny idiot is far far better than neocon tool
and if you're such hero - why aren't you enlisting? you sound mity brave.....
Posted by MityWhity
I am sure, though, you would have more sympathy for them if they offered their allegiance to your ficticious deity.
So, why the "Alleged", CBS? He confessed. Do you have to waih until he is formally sentenced? Do you think the ACLU will take his case and he will be found not guilty and will come back and sue you?
GOD...You are the most biased, anti American, news organization this side of CNN and Al Jazeera!
Posted by karlimhof at 12:27 PM : Mar 19, 2007
A typical bedwetting liberal response. Personally, I wouldn't p*ss on you if you were burning alive. I used to buy in to that, "I don't agree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
But I no longer feel that way. I had no idea how off track America has become. It is my sincere hope that you and others like you are in a high probability target area.
And when the air temp outside your town heats up to about 50,000 degrees, I will take some small satisfaction in knowing that your worthless kind have been diminished by some number.
Saddam would still have his head; the Shia and Sunni would be making love to each other; Valerie Plame would still be 007; Gitmo would have the guiding spirit of the UN; our US prosecutors en masse would be figuring out ways not to politicize cases like Marc Rich; and all the Jihadists would be singing God Bless America.
Oh, I forgot. And CBS would still pretend that Dan Rather really was Walter Cronkite.
-resh
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Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash
......I guess the Democrats and their close pals in our corrupt liberal MSM wolfpack is going to demand that this terrorist be released now....OR they will probalby say that he can't get a fair trial from the US military..........
What is the most amazing thing of that was the remaining crew and ship was saved by the USSR!
You are pathetic.
Pentagon: Suspect Also Admits Role In Planning Bombings Of U.S. Embassies In Africa"
He also confessed to being a former member of the Manson family who helped kill Sharon Tate. Then he confessed to being best friends with John Hinckley Jr and sold him a gun though didn't know what it was for. He also corked bats and sold steroids to baseball player to try to contaminate the game. After a few more beatings he just might confess to being the onbe who forged the yellowcake doucment that bush lied about and lead us into this war. Stay tuned as I'm sure even a few more beatings will result in even more exciting confessions.
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If Al Gore was president we'd all be praying at sundown!!!
Posted by karlimhof at 12:27 PM : Mar 19, 2007
A typical bedwetting liberal response. Personally, I wouldn't p*ss on you if you were burning alive. I used to buy in to that, "I don't agree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
But I no longer feel that way. I had no idea how off track America has become. It is my sincere hope that you and others like you are in a high probability target area.
And when the air temp outside your town heats up to about 50,000 degrees, I will take some small satisfaction in knowing that your worthless kind have been diminished by some number.
Posted by US_Infidel at 12:44 PM : Mar 19, 2007
In other words they're cowards.
Do you wear your foil hat shiny-side in or shiny-side out?
Just curious.
Posted by j-whitman at 01:21 PM : Mar 19, 2007
........ You mean like the one that OJ was tried in?????? if I recall correctly OJ, that idiot never got hung......
American civilian courts are no where "close" to being as fair as a military court........ Not Even Close....
Posted by easeup
Actually, it's at sundown, sunrise and 3 other times during the day.
But Al Gore would probably pay someone else to do it, and call it "Prayer Credits" so he could say he had a neutral Prayer Footprint.
, That makes for a good argument against high priced lawyers & multi-teired justice system.... Give them all pro-bono junior lawyers, as the rest of us get.
, Bush & his ENRON family circle would fight it tooth & nail.
. Give them all pro-bono junior lawyers, as the rest of us get., Bush & his ENRON family circle would fight it tooth & nail. --
- But then again if you could show Bush how it could help the radical militant Sunni's & the UAE he would promote the idea in his cheerleading skirt.
Posted by vbnvbn at 01:59 PM : Mar 19, 2007
LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL! That's one of the best jokes I've herad in a long time!!! Whew! Thanks. I needed a good laugh this morning!
he is THE worse president EVER!!!!!!!
Posted by usadvisor101 at 01:45 PM : Mar 19, 2007
What? Al Gore a combat veteran...that sounds like a the B.S. moveon.org spews. At least Bush was smart enough to fly jets in the guard. As for John Kerry the flip flopping I'll say what you want to hear man...it was veterans against him. Tell me what service that Al Gore served in combat.
Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials.
source: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.htm
Posted by usadvisor101 at 02:51 PM : Mar 19, 2007
PBS is bias to the left along with the BBC. Since you know so much...tell me how John Murtha is a "hero". What did he do to deserve to be called a hero? He is just another crook...he was ready to take a bribe and everyone knows it.
These are the worst of the worst Islam has to offer up and if the lefty%u2019s are so sympathetic to their plight, might I suggest they go to Gitmo and bunk in with them for oh say a day or two, then we can box up the lefty%u2019s remains and send them home.
They are just so-o-o stupid, they really don%u2019t get it at all. You have to deal with these buggers with strength, it%u2019s all they understand, strength and power. Oh I%u2019m sorry, isn%u2019t being strong and powerful somehow un-American today?
Not in my world buddy-boy. Kill them all and let Allah sort them out! Allah Who? Never mind.
Gore's military service above.
The Swift Boad Vets are heros, I know I was there and they come to get us when others would not. If you don't like that fact then you bite.
Murtha's military record. From what I can see both he and Gore were much more heroes then that drunken drug addled idiot Bush who flew a bar stool in Texas. Just the fact that they both volunteered to go to Vietnam while Bush cowered in Austin speaks volumes about their courage.
Posted by vbnvbn at 03:15 PM : Mar 19, 2007
Clinton was registered for the draft but then applied for and received a deferment as he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship (A great honor) to study in Great Britain. After he was done he came back and re-registered for the draft. He draw a high number and wasn't required to serve. I have no problem with that. Certainly not as much as I do with Slick Di*ck Cheney who pulled political strings to get Five deferments because he had "other priorities".
Posted by usadvisor101 at 03:10 PM : Mar 19, 2007
LOL! Yep, they might find out that most of their heroes who gladly send other peoples kids off to die in their war were actually completely gutless cowards themselves (and still are). There's so many yellow bellied cowards in the White House it gives off a slightly orange glow. LOL!
LOL!!!!!! That's a website dedicated to break online chain letters! And you're using it as a "News" source!!! Now that's not just desperate, it's stupid desperate! It's a copy of a chain latter that was circulating on the Internet and even this site says it wrong! LOL!!!!!!!!
Posted by vbnvbn at 03:49 PM : Mar 19, 2007
LOL! You post a phony chain letter to trash Clinton and when you lie is pointed out you say it's OK because you think Dan Rather did the same about Bush? LOL!
In the words of the One and Only, The Great Bugs Bunny! "What a maroon!"
Something that Bill Clinton (or any other insane liberal for that matter) would never do.
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