Former Cole commander slams D.C. gathering

The former commander of the destroyer Cole described a second meeting with administration officials Wednesday as a ruse to provide political cover while paying lip service to families of terrorist victims.

Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, skipper of the Norfolk-based ship when it was attacked while refueling in 2000 in Aden, Yemen, said there was no update given on the stalled prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Al-Nashiri, who is being held in a military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been charged with masterminding the Cole attack, which killed 17 sailors. He was to be tried in January, but President Barack Obama ordered all Guantanamo cases halted shortly after taking office.

"What they said was that it, like every other case, is under review for which venue would be most appropriate to hold him accountable for his actions," Lippold said, referring to al-Nashiri.

The families met in Washington with the head and deputy of a Justice Department task force addressing Guantanamo issues. Lippold, who attended, criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for not coming. "No political appointee had the moral courage to show up," he said.

Holder spent some time at a similar meeting with victims' families Tuesday.

Lippold said politicians, not Justice Department staffers, would decide how to proceed anyway, and the families' voices wouldn't matter.

"It is the cruelest form of emotional manipulation for political reasons," Lippold said, to bring the families together and quiet them while making policy decisions without engaging them or the American public.

Lippold is more than a bystander in the detainee debate. After leaving the Cole, he worked in the Joint Chiefs of Staff's terrorism division and helped craft detainee policy after the 9/11 attacks.

In February, Obama met with families of Americans killed in terrorist attacks, telling them he was committed to bringing justice to those who plotted the attacks.

Lippold and local families who lost loved ones on the Cole attended that meeting in Washington, and most said they were impressed with Obama's leadership.

Mona Gunn, the mother of Cole sailor Cherone Gunn, who died in the attack, said Lippold does not speak for her family. Gunn was not at the Wednesday meeting but said she is happy the White House and Justice Department have kept families informed.

"For eight years we had nothing but waiting for something to happen in our favor," Gunn said in an e-mail. "More has happened in a few months under a new President than in the past eight years."

Lippold criticized the administration's decision to free or transfer dozens of Guantanamo inmates. Last week, four Uighur detainees - Chinese Muslims, held in Cuba since 2002 - were resettled in the Bahamas. The Uighurs, whom the U.S. determined were not enemy combatants, said they had been seeking autonomy from Beijing.

Lippold said it was disingenuous for task force members to tell families no decisions have been made, while, the same day, Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he expects 50 or more detainees to be tried.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com