-Caveat Lector-
Navy changes Cole bombing timeline; new questions raised
Friday, 20 October 2000 15:54 (ET)
Navy changes Cole bombing timeline; new questions raised
By PAMELA HESS
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) - The USS Cole had been refueling for
about an hour on Oct. 12 when a bomb exploded nearby, according
to the Navy, a small change in the timeline that significantly
changes the Navy's account of the presumed terrorist attack.
The change will also open the Navy to even more criticism and
second-guessing: The question the Navy must now answer is how the
small boat believed responsible for the bombing was able to get
so close to the warship without being challenged or intercepted.
Initial reports indicated the bombing was carried out by port
employees or people posing as port employees, who were helping
the Cole tie up to a floating fueling station in the port of Aden
in Yemen.
The Navy's initial account of the bombing was based on a single
witness, an Army major attached to the U.S. embassy in Yemen.
The witness said a small craft, apparently part of the harbor
tender's fleet, helped tie one of the Cole's lines to a buoy and
then approached the port side of the Arleigh-Burke class
destroyer. At that point, 12:15 p.m. local time, a huge
explosion rocked the Cole, according to the Navy's initial
account.
But Friday, the Navy said the Cole had been refueling for nearly
an hour when the bomb exploded, destroying popular theory that
the attack was almost certainly carried out by an insider who
worked for the private company that was contracted to refuel the
$1 billion ship.
"According to ship records, the explosion occurred at about 11:18
local time in Yemen, not 12:15 as previously reported. USS Cole
had completed mooring operations at 9:30 am. Refueling
operations commences at approximately 10:30 and were ongoing at
the time of the terrorist attack," the Navy said.
The Navy reviewed the timeline in response to a query from the
weekly Navy Times, which had a source in Aden that said the
Navy's initial account of the bombing was incorrect.
The Navy said the earlier report was incorrect because it was
based on initial voice and relayed reports from the ship.
The ships communications system and power was disabled by the
blast, which killed 17. Ship records were not available earlier
last week.
"As is often the case, these initial relayed reports contained
some errors, and in some cases were misunderstood back here,"
stated the Navy.
"To have people think it was all one big event, they were pulling
in to refuel and the explosion happen, is wrong," Lt. Cdr.
Greg Smith, a Navy spokesman, told UPI.
The Navy is not releasing other details about the attack.
"(Given) the coverage of the initial reports, the Navy felt it
was necessary to provide the correction as soon as possible,"
stated the Navy.
According to a Navy Times' source, the port of Aden is sprawling
and made such an attack easy, even without the cover of a harbor
tender craft.
"The idea that a mooring boat was involved just doesn't hold
water," said the source in Yemen, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "There simply weren't any mooring boats around the
ship at the time."
"There are so many points of access where people can get in," the
official said. "It's a big, sheltered bay, and you can disappear
two miles around the corridor and more or less do what you like,"
said the source, according to the Navy Times
--
****************************
Navy Times
New Attack Timeline Surfaces in Cole Investigation
By David Brown
NAVY TIMES STAFF WRITER
The attack on the destroyer Cole came an hour earlier than
originally reported, and in the midst of the ship�s refueling
operation, nearly two hours after it moored, not as it was being
tied to the refueling pier, Navy Times has learned.
The Cole had been refueling for about 45 minutes when, at 11:18
a.m. local time Oct. 12, an explosive-laden boat pulled
alongside and blasted a hole in its port side, according to a
timeline obtained by Navy Times.
Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, chief of naval information,
confirmed the timeline, which was provided by a source associated
with the Port of Aden in Yemen.
The FBI declined to comment.
The timeline changes the face of the attack, which was initially
viewed as an �inside job� that sucker-punched the ship as it was
being tied to the refueling pier.
The blast killed 17 sailors and injured 39.
Pietropaoli said the original timeline provided by the Navy was
based on early reports from the ship, via the chain of command,
at a time when the crew was fighting to keep the ship afloat and
virtually all communications systems were down.
Following a query from Navy Times, the Navy went back to the
ship�s records and concluded that its timeline was incorrect,
Pietropaoli said.
He added that the timeline was not corrected because other
federal agencies took over investigation of the blast and the
Navy focused on the welfare of the ship and crew and their
families.
The Navy and other federal agencies initially reported that line
handlers in one of two harbor boats tasked to tie the ship to
mooring buoys and the refueling station carried out the attack.
The new timeline suggests the refueling was nearly completed, and
linehandlers were nowhere near the ship at the time of the
attack.
Sources in Aden said mooring boats normally leave the ship
they�re assisting after delivering the ship�s lines to a
refueling station, returning to their post near the entrance of
the harbor, about a mile from the ship.
�The idea that a mooring boat was involved just doesn�t hold
water,� said the source in Yemen, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. �There simply weren�t any mooring boats around the
ship at the time.�
Investigators have confirmed they are also examining the
possibility that the attack boat operators blended in with the
mooring craft but were not involved in that operation.
But the new timeline raises a wholly different scenario: a rogue
boat attacking the Cole without the cover of official harbor
craft.
That theory is supported in part by reports out of Yemen Oct.
19 that a bearded man with glasses paid a 12-year-old Yemeni boy
to watch his car and boat trailer which was parked near the port.
The man reportedly left the scene with a rubber boat and hasn�t
been seen since.
Yemeni police were able to trace the man back to an apartment
that contained bomb-making material.
The official in Aden said a boat coming into the port independent
of the mooring operation is plausible because of the port�s
sprawling layout.
�There are so many points of access where people can get in,� the
official said. �It�s a big, sheltered bay, and you can disappear
two miles around the corridor and more or less do what you like.�
Staff Writer Christopher Munsey contributed to this report.
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