Wash Post.
[Editor's note: The Post does not tell us that the bombing was actually carried out by the Islamic Army of Aden, funded by Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who was connected to the 1995 Bojinka plot. Khalifa was a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, long ago penetrated by U.S. and British intelligence, and ran the Muslim World League in Peshawar, Pakistan, that is to say he worked for the CIA and the ISI during the CIA's effort to kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan. As well, Ramzi Yousef, said to be involved in the plot, was a known CIA operative, also involved in Bojinka.]

Jamal al-Badawi, a Yemeni who helped organize the plot to bomb the Cole as it refueled in this Yemeni port on Oct. 12, 2000, has broken out of prison twice. He was recaptured both times, but then secretly released by the government last fall. Yemeni authorities jailed him again after receiving complaints from Washington. But U.S. officials have so little faith that he's still in his cell that they have demanded the right to perform random inspections.

Two suspects, described as the key organizers, were captured outside Yemen and are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Many details of their alleged involvement remain classified. It is unclear when -- or if -- they will be tried by the military.

The collapse of the Cole investigation offers a revealing case study of the U.S. government's failure to bring al-Qaeda operatives and their leaders to justice for some of the most devastating attacks on American targets over the past decade.

A week after the Cole bombing, President Bill Clinton vowed to hunt down the plotters and promised, "Justice will prevail." In March 2002, President Bush said his administration was cooperating with Yemen to prevent it from becoming "a haven for terrorists." He added: "Every terrorist must be made to live as an international fugitive with no place to settle or organize, no place to hide, no governments to hide behind and not even a safe place to sleep."

Since then, Yemen has refused to extradite Badawi and an accomplice to the United States, where they have been indicted on murder charges. Other Cole conspirators have been freed after short prison terms.

Able Danger info on USS Cole

On Sunday, October 16, former FBI director Louis Freeh said on national television that if he had that information AD had developed, it could have allowed the FBI to prevent the hijackings on 9-11. Rep. Weldon further revealed that AD had also identified the threat to the USS Cole two weeks before that ship was attacked, and two days before that attack "were screaming not to let the USS Cole come into the harbor at Yemen because they knew something was about to happen."