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Cole Attack Galvanizes al-Qaeda

Cole Attack Galvanizes al-Qaeda

According to a source from the 9/11 Commission Report, excerpted below, Osama bin Laden anticipated that the United States would retaliate following the attack on the USS Cole and that if it did not, “he would launch something bigger.” The Cole attack invigorated al-Qaeda recruitment efforts:

Back in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden anticipated U.S. military retaliation. He ordered the evacuation of al-Qaeda’s Kandahar airport compound and fled the desert area near Kabul, then to Khowst and Jalalabad, and eventually back to Kandahar. In Kandahar, he rotated between five to six residences, spending one night at each residence. He sent his senior advisor, Mohammed Atef, to a different part of Kandahar and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to Kabul so that all three could not be killed in one attack.

There was no American strike. In February 2001, a source reported that an individual he referred to as the big instructor (probably a reference to bin Laden) complained frequently that the United States had not yet attacked. According to the source, Osama bin Laden wanted the United States to attack, and if it did not, “he would launch something bigger.”

The attack on the USS Cole galvanized al-Qaeda’s recruitment efforts. Following the attack, Osama bin Laden instructed the media committee, then headed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to produce a propaganda video that included a reenactment of the attack along with images of the al-Qaeda training camps and training methods. The video also highlighted Muslim suffering in Palestine, Kashmir, Indonesia, and Chechnya. Al-Qaeda’s image was very important to Osama bin Laden, and the video was widely disseminated. Portions were aired on Al Jazeera, CNN, and other television outlets. It was also disseminated among many young men in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and caused many extremists to travel to Afghanistan for training and jihad, a war against evil and nonbelievers. Al-Qaeda members considered the video an effective tool in their struggle for preeminence among other Islamist and jihadist movements.


The 2000s in America

USS Cole bombing

by Cait Caffrey

The Event: The bombing of US Navy destroyer USS Cole by al-Qaeda, resulting in the deaths of seventeen American sailors and injuring of thirty-nine others

Date: October 12, 2000

Place: Aden, Yemen

As the US Navy destroyer USS Cole refueled in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October of 2000, a large explosion alongside the vessel killed or injured many sailors on board. An investigation revealed that the terrorist attack was planned by the militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda.

The USS Cole docked in Aden harbor on Thursday, October 12, 2000, in need of fuel. The ship was on its way to the Persian Gulf to assist in imposing an oil embargo against Iraq, then controlled by dictator Saddam Hussein. As the vessel refueled, a small motorboat carrying hundreds of pounds of C-4 explosives came alongside it. At 11:18 a.m., as crew members began to line up in the galley for lunch, suicide bombers blasted a forty-foot hole in the ship’s hull. The blast killed seventeen sailors and injured thirty-nine others.

The incident was the most deadly attack against a US naval ship since an Iraqi air force plane attacked the USS Stark in 1987. The terrorist organization al-Qaeda later took credit for the assault on the Cole. The organization’s leader, Osama bin Laden, praised his followers for the strike in a videotaped statement.

In early 2007, a federal judge ruled that the Sudanese government was partly responsible for the attacks. Several families of the sailors killed in the attack filed lawsuits against Sudan, claiming that the government’s complicity enabled the terrorists to complete their mission. Terrorism experts testified in court that Sudan allowed terrorists to set up training camps inside its borders and supplied al-Qaeda with diplomatic passports and materiel so they could ship explosives without drawing attention. The court held Sudan liable for the damages and awarded the families $13 million from account of frozen Sudanese assets.

Kirk Lippold, commanding officer of the USS Cole

AUGHTS_USSColeBombing.jpg

(Courtesy U.S. Naval War College/Photograph by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Eric Dietrich)

Impact

Per the ship’s rules of engagement, sailors on the USS Cole were forbidden from firing any weapons unless the ship was fired upon first. Some argued that this policy encourage terrorists to engage the vessel. This criticism, along with an independent investigation into the cause of the attack, prompted a reassessment of US naval security procedures and led to such precautions as booms to protect ships in port. Following the attack, the USS Cole was repaired and returned to service.

Further Reading

1 

Associated Press. “Judge: Sudan Responsible for USS Cole Attack.” NBC News. NBCNews.com, 14 Mar. 2007. Web. 9 Aug. 2012.

2 

Lippold, Kirk. Front Burner: Al-Qaeda’s Attack on the USS Cole. New York: PublicAffairs, 2012. Print.

3 

“Pentagon Panel Urges Tighter Overseas Security for U.S. Military.” CNN. Cable News Network, 2 Jan. 2001. Web. 9 Aug. 2012.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Caffrey, Cait. "USS Cole Bombing." The 2000s in America, edited by Craig Belanger, Salem Press, 2013. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=2000_0381.
APA 7th
Caffrey, C. (2013). USS Cole bombing. In C. Belanger (Ed.), The 2000s in America. Salem Press.
CMOS 17th
Caffrey, Cait. "USS Cole Bombing." Edited by Craig Belanger. The 2000s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2013. Accessed September 18, 2025. online.salempress.com.