Cole survivors await justice as case grinds to halt

NORFOLK

They have grieved and coped, reminisced and ruminated on what might have been.

The survivors of the attack on the destroyer Cole, and the families and friends of the 17 sailors who died on Oct. 12, 2000, have had 10 long years to mourn. To keep alive the memories so children grow up knowing a missing parent. To honor the sacrifice their shipmates made.

Some have made an uneasy peace with the past. But there is one sore spot shared by many: frustration that the criminal case against the alleged mastermind of the bombing has ground to a halt.

Saudi national Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, captured in late 2002 and held for years at CIA black sites, was scheduled to be arraigned on capital murder charges in early 2009. But days before that happened, the official in charge of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, announced she had dismissed the charges against him.

Around the same time, President Barack Obama took office, promising to close the detainee facility in Cuba. He met with some families of Cole victims at the White House and pledged that justice would be done, but he said the cases needed to be reviewed.

Since then, there have been only more delays. Maj. Tanya Bradsher, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said the office of military commissions "is committed to pursuing this prosecution" and prosecutors are "actively investigating the case against Mr. al-Nashiri and are developing charges against him."

Kirk Lippold, the commanding officer of the Cole at the time of the bombing, isn't convinced. "They may say they're going to move forward and press charges," he said. "Talk is cheap."

Lippold thinks the Department of Justice is dragging its feet, not allowing the prosecutions to proceed.

"I continue to be troubled by the fact that crew and families of Cole are being ignored or held hostage to the politics of the moment," said Lippold, who's now retired. "It is time to disconnect national security policy from politics and move forward for what is best for these families and nations."

Complicating the case against al-Nashiri is the government's acknowledg ment that U.S. interrogators tortured him, subjecting him to waterboarding as well as threatening him with a gun and power drill and telling him he was about to be executed. Al-Nashiri has claimed in court hearings that he confessed to various crimes, including the Cole attack, as a result of the torture.

Legal experts say his confession would likely be inadmissible in court because it was coerced - and they question whether the government would be able to secure a capital murder conviction without it.

Two mothers of sailors who died on the Cole have little tolerance for the torture defense.

Sharon Priepke 's son, Marc Nieto, was a petty officer second class on the Norfolk-based ship.

"What happened to our boys in the bombing of the Cole?" she asked. "How many lost legs or are going to have disabilities for the rest of their lives?"

Dianne McDaniels, mother of Seaman James McDaniels, shares that view.

"I hate to say this, but it seems like there's no justice," said McDaniels, who lives in Norfolk.

"Waterboarding - oh, that was wrong? It wasn't wrong for my son to come back in body parts? It wasn't wrong for me to have three burials for one child?"

Al-Nashiri, she said, is still alive, while 17 sailors died, dozens more were injured, and countless others have been mentally scarred by the bombing.

McDaniels hadn't believed in capital punishment.

That changed after Oct. 12, 2000.

"I do now," she said. "I believe in the death penalty."

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

Transcript of al-Nashiri’s combatant status review, 2007