March 13, 2007
USS Cole Families Get Their Day in Court
After six long years, the families of the victims of the bombing of the USS Cole get the chance to stick it to Sudan:
NORFOLK, Va. - More than six years after terrorists bombed the USS Cole, the families of the 17 sailors killed in the blast headed to court Tuesday to try to prove the attack could not have happened without the government of Sudan's help.
The families' lawsuit against the African nation was to go to trial Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, where the now-repaired Navy destroyer is based.
"Sudan's material support ... including continuous flow of funding, money, weapons, logistical support, diplomatic passports and religious blessing, was crucial in enabling the attack on the USS Cole," lawyers for the families said in court papers outlining their case.
...
The families' lawyers intend to prove that Sudan has given safe haven to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network since 1991 — long before Yemeni operatives blasted a 40-foot-hole in the side of the Cole in Yemen's port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000.
They also hope to show that: the operatives were trained at camps Sudan permitted al-Qaida to operate within its borders; Sudan's military provided al-Qaida with at least four crates of weapons and explosives for terrorist activities in Yemen; bin Laden and Sudan's government owned businesses that provided cover for the procurement of explosives, weapons and chemicals; and Sudan gave al-Qaida diplomatic pouches to ship explosives and weapons internationally without being searched.
Sudan has been on the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring countries since 1993.
I checked several major lefty sites, and this is not yet being covered on any of them. I'm kind of surprised, since the left advocates taking terrorists and their sponsors to court rather than taking military action against them. And they care about the soldiers and their families, right?
As much as I am pulling for the families, I don't expect that a win for them will do anything to deter terrorists. It's not about the money; it's about their skewed world view. But it's always possible.
Show Comments »
The Left's silence is not unexpected. Why should they worry about innocent civilians of any stripe? Or American military personnel? The Left see no harm in the bloodshed of terrorism.
Except for a few signs such as the Euston Manifesto, The Left has a deafening silence. One Leftist author has attacked this compliance with murder and totalitarianism in the Guardian. He says they have lost their moral compass, a compass many of us would insist they never possessed.
Posted by: jh at March 13, 2007 12:10 PM
