Osama bin Laden applauds the bombing of USS Cole in Aden harbor

By Tarek Al-Issawi, Associated Press, 3/1/2001 10:19

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The world's most wanted Islamic militant, Osama bin Laden, has applauded the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, describing the destroyer as a ship of injustice that sailed to its doom.

Bin Laden's remarks were recorded at a family celebration in Afghanistan and broadcast on Qatar's satellite channel, Al-Jazeera, Thursday.

Two suicide bombers detonated a small boat full of explosives alongside the USS Cole as it refueled in Aden harbor, Yemen, on Oct. 12, killing 17 American sailors and wounding 39 others.

Yemeni and U.S. investigators have said publicly they have no hard evidence linking the attack to bin Laden, but one of the suspects told interrogators he believed he was acting under orders emanating from the Saudi dissident.

Bin Laden recited a poem at a gathering held Monday to celebrate last month's marriage of his son, Mohammed, in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

''In Aden, the young man stood up for holy war and destroyed a destroyer feared by the powerful,'' he said. He spoke of the ship as having sailed ''to its doom'' along a course of ''false arrogance, self-conceit and strength.''

Shouts of Allahu Akbar, or God is Great, punctuated his reading of the poem, part of which was dedicated to the children of the Palestinian uprising.

It was the first time bin Laden had spoken publicly about the Cole attack.

Bin Laden appeared to have dyed his beard, which was dark black in contrast to photographs that have shown it streaked with gray.

One of bin Laden's sons, Hamza, no older than 10, recited a poem questioning the reasons behind the United States' pursuit of his father. He wore a white turban and a sleeveless camouflage jacket.

Bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire, has been indicted by the United States for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. Days after the bombings, the United States fired dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at presumed bin Laden camps in eastern Afghanistan.

Al-Jazeera said bin Laden's mother, two brothers and a sister had flown to Afghanistan for the event on an Afghan plane that was returning from Saudi Arabia after dropping off travelers to the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca and Medina.

Bin Laden was shown sitting next to his son Mohammed, who was flanked by Abu Hafas al-Masri, an Egyptian who fought with the elder bin Laden in the 1980s against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

The reception was attended by several members of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia and hundreds of armed Arab fighters.

The Taliban have refused to surrender bin Laden to the United States, despite U.N. sanctions imposed last month. The Taliban say Washington has not provided proof of his guilt and that it is against Afghan tradition to hand over a guest to his enemies.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001