USS Cole Bombing - Investigation

Investigation

In a form of transport pioneered in 1988 by the USS Samuel B. Roberts aboard the Mighty Servant 2, Cole was hauled from Aden aboard the Norwegian semi-submersible heavy lift salvage ship MV Blue Marlin. She arrived in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on December 24, 2000, where she was rebuilt.

U.S. FBI agents sent to Yemen to investigate the bombing in the days following the blast worked in an extremely hostile environment. They were met at the airport by Yemen special forces, "each soldier pointing an AK-47 at the plane." Speakers in the Yemeni parliament "calling for jihad against America," were broadcast on local television each night. After some delay, Yemenis produced a CCTV video from a harborside security camera, but with the crucial moment of the explosion deleted. "There were so many perceived threats that the agents often slept in their clothes and with their weapons at their sides." At one point, the hotel where the agents stayed "was surrounded with men in traditional dress, some in jeeps, all carrying guns." Finally the agents abandoned their hotel to stay at a Navy vessel in the Bay of Aden, but even that was not safe. After being granted "permission from the Yemeni government to fly back to shore," their helicopter "was painted by an SA-7 missile" and "had to take evasive maneuvers".