The USS Cole

The terrorists attack upon the USS. Cole was the work of cowardly people whose only intent was to kill American’s. Today, I read that Wallid bin Attash, a captured al- Qaeda operative, confessed to a U.S. military tribunal that he was the mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 that resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors and wounded 39.

In a direct quote from bin Attash taken from the transcript of his March 12 confession to the tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “I participated in the buying or purchasing of the explosives. I put together the plan for the operation for a year and half prior to the operation,''

Bin Attash also confessed that he assisted in planning the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 that killed 213.

This testimony, coupled with that of confessed mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed makes me sick, but I am happy they are captured and made to stand trail for their actions. However, this too angers me, our country will do everything it can to insure these two sick bastard’s rights are not tampered with, we will place them in a prison for the remaining years of their life and treat them in a descent manner. Yet, in the eyes of the world, we are the barbarians, the bad guys.

This whole situation sickens me, just as it should every other American, but there will be those who will not believe these statements. They will say we tortured, coerced, threatened, or worse to make these men admit to something. When this occurs, as it always does, it makes me wonder just whose side these individuals are on.

There are many trains of thoughts on our present course of actions in this war on terror. We have some saying that to combat terror effectively we must address the problems causing it, working from that basis forward. We have others saying to shoot first and ask questions later. Terrorism is a difficult problem to overcome, we are not facing a standing army, but individuals bent on a single purpose.

There are no set guidelines, published material, advice from others who have succeeded, nothing. It is a battle with the books being written as it progresses. Of course, mistakes will be made, they always are, but one fact remains, we should learn from our mistakes, study them and go forth from there, not repeating them as we often do.

Whatever the case, in my opinion, the individuals who are responsible for acts of terror against our country should be dealt with in a quick and deadly manner.