Civic Register
| 1.7.19

U.S. Airstrike Kills USS Cole Bombing Suspect

Do you support the use of airstrikes overseas to kill terrorists?

  • Yesterday, the U.S. military and President Donald Trump confirmed that an airstrike in Yemen last week had killed one of the suspected bombers of the USS Cole in 2000.
  • Jamal al-Badawi, an al-Qaeda commander, was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) most wanted list for his role in the attack.
  • There was no collateral damage from last week’s airstrike, according to military officials.

Background

The October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole Navy destroyer in the port of Aden, Yemen killed 17 American sailors and injured 39.

Al-Badawi was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2003 for his role in the attack.

In Yemen, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death by a Yemeni judge, but escaped from prison several times. There has been a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

Airstrikes

The Trump administration is not unique in its use of airstrikes. In 2016 alone, the Obama administration dropped at least 26,171 bombs. According to The Guardian:

“One bombing technique that President Obama championed is drone strikes. As drone-warrior-in-chief, he spread the use of drones outside the declared battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly to Pakistan and Yemen. Obama authorized over 10 times more drone strikes than George W Bush, and automatically painted all males of military age in these regions as combatants, making them fair game for remote controlled killing.”

Bombing leader

Yesterday, President Trump tweeted about the airstrike, praising the military for killing “the leader” of the USS Cole attack:

Former FBI agent Ali Soufan was the lead investigator on the USS Cole attack. He told NPR that al-Badawi was not actually the mastermind behind the bombing:

“He was the logistical guy on the ground. The coordinator and the main planner of the attack, Abd al-Nashiri, is still alive in Guantanamo Bay. Every time someone says Badawi was the mastermind, they’re hurting the case against Nashiri.”

What do you think?

Do you support the use of airstrikes overseas to kill terrorists? Why or why not? Tell your reps what you think, then share your thoughts below.

—Sara E. Murphy

(Photo Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation / Public Domain)