Remember the Cole

It was eight years ago today at the Yemeni port of Aden that the destroyer the USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers, killing 17 sailors and injuring 40.

Six of the men who were eventually charged with the attacks, all from Al-Qaeda, were either freed or escaped by the following May.

The current president at the time, Bill Clinton, did nothing in response to the attacks, and decided to let his successor deal with it. And George W. Bush equally did nothing to strike back at Al-Qaeda in response to the Cole attack. As the 9/11 Commission Report later wrote:

"Bin Laden complained frequently that the United States had not yet attacked (in response to the Cole)... Bin Laden wanted the United States to attack, and if it did not he would launch something bigger."

And he and his murdering bastards did. It emboldened them to "bigger things." The Cole bombing was a dress rehearsal for the worst day in American history...11 months later.

May God rest the souls of those killed eight years ago today, and those that followed the succeeding September.