Pentagon Seeks Death Penalty for USS Cole Bombing

By Pamela Mortimer

Pentagon officials announced Monday that they will seek the death penalty for a Saudi Arabian man charged with "organizing and directing the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole." The man allegedly responsible for the October 12, 2000 attack is Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, 41, who has been held since 2006 at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. U.S. intelligence has referred to al-Nashiri the "mastermind" behind the attack on the USS Cole during a refueling stop in Yemen. The bombing left 17 U.S. sailors dead and dozens with various injuries.

According to Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, legal adviser to the U.S. Military Tribunal System, said the allegations against al-Nashiri include conspiracy to violate laws of terrorism, war, treachery, murder, and destruction of property, as well as intentionally causing serious bodily injury.

Hartmann added that Al-Nashiri, 41, is also accused of taking part in the suicide attack on the French oil tanker Limburg. The attack caused the death of a Bulgarian crew member and dumped 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden.

Before al-Nashiri is charged with the offense, the action must be approved by the Defense of Department official who supervises military tribunals regarding terrorism suspects. If the charged are approved by the DOD, al-Nashiri will be the first person in eight years to be charged with involvement the attack.

Earlier this year CIA Director Michael Hayden said al-Nashiri was among terrorist suspects subjected to waterboarding in 2002 and 2003 during interrogations in secret CIA prisons.

During a press conference at the Pentagon, Hartmann was asked if the evidence of the waterboarding would be considered at during al-Nashiri’s trial.

"We will look at the evidence, all of the evidence that is associated with the case," Hartmann said. "While there has been an admission that there was waterboarding, there may well be other evidence in the case. That's not ... necessarily the only part of evidence in the case."

President Bush has claimed that waterboarding was legal at the time of the incident.

Despite earlier confessions, al-Nashiri is saying his previous statements were coerced.

"From the time I was arrested five years ago, they have been torturing me. It happened during interviews. One time they tortured me one way, and another time they tortured me in a different way," al-Nashiri said, according to the transcript. "I just said those things to make the people happy. They were very happy when I told them those things."