Yemen: U.S. Shares Blame for Cole Blast

S A N ’ A, Yemen, Dec. 4, 2000 -- The United States itself bears some responsibility for the attack on the USS Cole because it helped create the terrorists who now consider America their worst enemy,Yemen’s foreign minister said today.

Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, Foreign Minister Abdulkader Bajammal also said Yemen wants to work closely with the United States to combat terrorism.

“The operation was not Yemeni, not pure Yemeni,” Bajammalsaid. “It is a network involving so many countries. Terrorism hasno nation.”

No one has yet been charged in the Oct. 12 bombing of the USSCole, which killed 17 sailors and wounded 39. Asked if anyindictments were forthcoming, Bajammal said he had no information,noting it was not his area of responsibility.

But Bajammal said that if any Yemenis are found to have beeninvolved, they may have simply been corrupt bureaucrats whoprovided logistical help in exchange for “a little baksheesh,” —or payoffs — not out of ideology.

“We are a victim of terrorism, not a source of terrorism,”Bajammal added.

‘A Historical Phenomenon’

The attack on the Cole followed anti-U.S. and anti-Israeliprotests in Yemen and across an Arab world enraged by violence inPalestinian areas. Nearly 300 people — mostly Palestinians — havebeen killed in Israeli-Palestinian clashes since September.

But the roots of anti-American terrorism are older and deeper,running back to the 1980s when one of the last-gasp Cold Warbattles was waged in the rugged mountains and valleys ofAfghanistan.

Bajammal said that because the investigation was continuing, hecould not comment on the possibility that Yemeni or other Arabveterans of the Afghan war were involved in the Cole attack.

But, he said, “Terrorism did not appear by accident. It is ahistorical phenomenon. Just as the Soviet Union created a man like[the international terrorist] Carlos, the other side created theAfghan Arabs. We have inherited the remnants of the Cold War.”

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said the Clintonadministration rejects any suggestion that the United States issomehow responsible for the Cole attack. He spoke on condition ofanonymity.

The Extent of Yemeni Involvement

Yemen, whose central government is struggling to expandauthority over tribal areas, has long been a haven for Muslimextremists, including groups linked to Saudi dissident Osama binLaden, a veteran of the Afghan war who today is America’s No. 1terrorist suspect.

Bin Laden was one of the thousands of fighters from across theArab world who went to Afghanistan after the 1979 Soviet incursionto fight alongside Afghan guerrillas, whose chief financial andmilitary backers included the United States.

After the Soviets withdrew in 1989, many so-called Afghan Arabsturned their anger against the United States, which they see as athreat to Islam and to Arab independence. Bin Laden continues tolive in Afghanistan, where he periodically issues calls forviolence against the United States.

Yemeni leaders, embarrassed to have a U.S. ship attacked intheir waters just as they were trying to expand relations withWashington, at first rejected the idea that Yemenis could have hadanything to do with the Cole attack.

But Yemeni sources close to the inquiry, speaking on conditionof anonymity, have said several Yemenis had key roles in organizingthe attack. Other Yemenis working for the government allegedlyhelped the bombers by providing fake identification and otherdocuments.

Bajammal said his government wants stronger ties with the UnitedStates, despite signs of anti-American sentiment among the Yemenipeople.

Hopes for the Future

The United States and Yemen signed an agreement last weekcalling for cooperation between U.S. and Yemeni investigatorstrying to determine who was behind the bombing of the USS Coleafter it entered Aden harbor for refueling.

Details of the cooperation agreement have not been officiallyreleased. A U.S. law enforcement official, who also spoke oncondition of anonymity, said in Washington last week that theagreement called for FBI agents to observe interviews of witnessesand suspects and submit questions for Yemeni agents to ask.

U.S. officials have said this arrangement preserves Yemeni sovereignty,while allowing FBI agents to testify later in U.S. courts, ifcharges are brought there, that torture was not used to extractstatements.

Bajammal said he hoped for more and broader agreements with theUnited States. He said Yemen needed U.S. technology, equipment andtraining to strengthen security and fight terrorism.

A U.S. official in San’a, speaking on condition of anonymity,said cooperation between the United States and Yemen was likely toincrease in the aftermath of attack on the Cole.

The Cole and other U.S. warships that patrol the Gulf had been refueling at Yemen’s southern port of Aden as part of an effort to bring the UnitedStates and Yemen closer.

Yemeni investigators have reportedly completed their probe andrecommended to prosecutors that at least two unidentified people becharged in the bombing. It was not clear when prosecutors would actor whether a trial would begin before the Muslim holy month ofRamadan ends in late December.