What hampered the USS Cole bombing investigation

[ontobush]

Barbara Bodine was Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen at the time of the Cole bombing. She and John O'Neill were at odds in the investigation of that bombing.

In a PBS Frontline documentary of John O'Neill, the best qualified we had at investigating al Qaeda movements, it states that Ambassador Bodine prevented FBI agent O'Neill from going back to Yemen and question the PSO about two suspects, Fahad al-Quso and Taifq bin-Atash, that were arrested in connection with the Cole bombing. al-Quso had been tied to the bombing plot with physical evidence found in an al Qaeda safe house. bin-Atash had been photographed with other al Qaeda members with him in a Malaysia meeting. Link

Bodine blocked O'Neill from getting a visa to go back to Yemen and him getting any more information that could have been found through questioning, wiretaps, more surveillance of suspects and pushing the Yemeni government for more arrests.

This has nothing to do with the 'wall'. It has to do with a Republican that hamstrung O'Neill when he was trying to investigate the Cole bombing in Yemen, where there was no wall. O'Neill had close relationships with those in Yemen that were aiding him in his investigation. No one else could have done what he was doing, unless they started from scratch, but there was no guarantee that they could have got as far as him. It points out how Bodine kept an expert on al Qaeda , John O'Neill, from continuing his investigation and questioning al Qaeda members in Yemen that had ties to those responsible for 9/11..al Qaeda.

It's not surprising that it would be a Republican stonewalling any investigations before 9/11 with Bodine blocking the visa of O'Neill, and after 911, with the bush administrations fighting the formation of the 9/11 Commission. al Qaeda was not that important to the bush administration PRE 9/11.

In reading about O'Neill, you will find that if Bodine hadn't kept him from getting a visa to go back to Yemen and continue his investigation, he quite possible could have thwarted those responsible for 9/11.

[blm]

1. Clinton made a big mistake trusting Bush cronies in oil countries post 92.

Bodine has always been part of the BFEE agenda.

And you know who set up the refueling logistice for the USS Cole that led to the lack of security - Dick Cheney privatized the service as Sec of Defense, and HALLIBURTON - KBR was specifically in charge when the Cole was bombed.

[KittyWampus]

2. The Investigators Were Thrown Out Cause They Were Carrying Weapons?

Yemen officials came up with crap to screw things up.

[librechik]

3. Bodine is "in on it"--she LIHOP!!

I've known it all along--she was incharge of handing ourt visas like kleenex to "flight students" wanting to get into the US, too.

[Roland99]

7. What's her history and relationship to the BFEE?

[bribri16]

4. Was she the one who gave Saddam the wink-n-nod to invade Kuwait?

I beleive she was.

[blm]

5. That was April Glaspie.

But Bodine has been a longtime BushInc ally.

Clinton should NEVER have trusted her.

[radwriter0555]

6. bush withdrawing all the officers investigating the attack immediately

upon taking office was a bit of a setback.