Who Let the Dogs Out?
Was the Cole Bombers' Escape - and the Cole Bombing Itself - a Bush-Assisted Inside Job?

By Cheryl Seal
(to see article with activated embedded links go to cherylsealreports.com/wholetthedogsout.html



If you read a description of the escape of the Al Qaeda crew that bombed the USS Cole back in 2000, it is hard not to conclude that the "escape" was an inside job. These guys, held in a top security prison, had help, for sure, both in the prison and outside. But who? Who had the motive and the means? Who actually NEEDS a terrorist threat right now more than anyone else?

Does the name G.W. Bush come to mind?

The "New York Daily News" describes the escape: "International police are playing catchup after a band of al-Qaida terrorists tunneled out of a prison in Yemen - and authorities there took days to warn the world. Among the 23 fugitives are at least 13 al-Qaida members, including the mastermind of the October 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer the USS Cole - which killed 17 American sailors - and other bombers who hit a French ship in 2002. Interpol issued a worldwide alert for the men Sunday and slammed Yemeni officials for dragging their feet on providing key details about the terrorists, who escaped Thursday night or Friday morning from a prison in San'a, Yemen, through a 450-foot tunnel to a mosque.
"Their escape cannot be considered an internal problem for Yemen alone," said Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble. Interpol said the band had help digging the tunnel from the outside."

OK, so there's the surface story. Now here's "The rest of the story."

George Bush not only has close political ties to the government of Yemen, but Yemen's President, Ali Abdullah Saleh considers Dubya - and other Bush family members - his personal pals. Saleh was a guest at the White House just a few months ago (Novemnber). During his stay, he visited extensively with various members of the Bush administration and proclaimed, ".... I am delighted to have this friend -- friend, George Bush." And Saleh needs a friend right now. He is increasingly unpopular in Yemen and among many of his Arab neighbors. And, he needs cash fast. A Yemen news service Almotamar reported in November before Saleh's trip to Washington that "Yemen is unhappy with U.S. assistance and is seeking an increase in U.S. financial and economic aid in return for its cooperation in combating terrorism, including tightening control on its land and sea borders to curb smuggling and infiltration of gunmen." What kind of deals would Saleh have been willing to make?

The relationship between Saleh and Bush goes much deeper than "fightin' terrorism." Saleh is, in fact, a Bush family friend. The Yemen embassy website is full of the Bush-Saleh connection, describing how Bush, Sr. first visited Saleh in 1987 while Reagan's VP: " His visit coincided with the official announcement of the Oil discoveries in the fields of Mareb by Hunt-Texas Oil Company. Under Bush's Administration, relations between the two nations were at an all time high. In January 1990, President Ali Abdullah Saleh made his first official visit to the USA just a few months before the proclamation of the Yemeni Unity. " Corporate Watch and other sources have described the extensive business connections that have existed betweenthe Bush family and Middle East businessmen and leaders over the years - including Saleh. (For more on the Bush-Middle East mogul connection see this and this

The most damning piece of evidence, suggesting that the Bush-Saleh connection may not be in the best interests of the US OR Yemen, is the way the Cole investigation was actually handled. I researched and wrote the following article about the Cole bombing and investigation in May, 2002:

" In October of 2000, after entering the Port of Aden off the coast of Yemen, the USS Cole was hit by suicide bomber. The blast killed 17 and injured 35 Americans. O'Neill was sent over to investigate, as head of the FBI team. Accompanying O'Neill to Yemen were over 100 FBI agents, laboratory experts and forensics specialists, as well as FBI Director Louis J. Freeh. From the earliest moments of the investigation, O'Neill was sure Bin Laden was responsible. However, from the start, his efforts to work the case were sabotaged by US ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine. Bodine refused to cooperate in the investigation or to encourage Yemenis to cooperate. Despite repeated death threats against agents, she refused to allow them to carry the type of weapons O'Neill considered adequate. O'Neill reportedly called Louis Freeh in the middle of the night once expressing anxiety about the safety of his men. The clash between O'Neill and Bodine went steadily from bad to worse, peaking when Bodine publicly called O'Neill a liar. Incredibly, Bodine claimed that through her actions, she was merely trying to keep diplomatic relations running smoothly.

" But a look at Ms. Bodine's history suggests a very different motivation. Throughout her career, Barbara Bodine has served primarily under rightwing old boys and in areas where the oil interests of said old boys are being furthered. Under Reagan, she served as Deputy Principle Officer in Baghdad, Iraq. Under Bush, Sr., she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait and was there during the Gulf War. She has also worked for Bob Dole, and far more ominously, for Henry Kissinger. So, in 2000 we find her in Yemen, and though a Clinton appointee, impeding the Clinton administration's efforts to conduct an investigation of a crime of terrorism in which the chief suspect is the son of a Bush family business associate.

" What makes Bodine's actions toward O'Neill particularly indefensible is that there is credible evidence that she herself was to blame, at least in part, for the Cole disaster. Kie Fallis, a Defense Intelligence Agency counterterrorism analyst, had issued a report before the disaster, warning of the danger of just such an attack in Yemen. As it turned out, the report was suppressed by senior DIA officials, and by Bodine and Gen. Anthony Zinn, who decided to allow the Cole to enter the Port under the lowest grade of security permitted in the Middle East — though they were both aware of the warning. Fallis quit in protest the day after the bombing.

" The report Fallis refers to was "officially" issued six hours after the attack by the NSA. The report said terrorists were known to be actively engaged in "operational planning" for an attack and had traveled to Dubai and Beirut in preparation for this attack. Yet, on Oct 29, senior intelligence officials issued a statement claiming that the warnings they had received were too vague to have justified issuing a stronger alert. Sound familiar?

" The Clinton administration intervened in the investigation, and an arrangement was made that at least made it possible for agents to question suspects (thanks to Bodine, even this had been impossible before). O'Neill returned to the States for the holidays. By that time, Bush had succeeded in pulling off the theft of the presidency. O'Neill was barred from returning to Yemen to continue his investigation. "

Guess who was Bush's first choice to fill the position that Paul Bremer ended up taking? Barbara Bodine.

There is now ample evidence that Saleh was involved not just in blocking the Cole investigation, but in the bombing of the ship.

AFP reported: "Yemen’s former ambassador to Syria, Ahmed Abdullah al-Hassani, alleged May 4 that al-Qaida cells within the Yemeni military and security forces planned the 2000 bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole. Hassani, who said he has applied for political asylum in Britain, also told a press conference in London that “it is very likely the head of the regime (President Ali Abdullah Saleh) knew in advance of the Cole explosion.”"...Hassani also said that Saleh had dispatched his interior minister and political security minister from Sanaa, the capital, for Aden at midnight, hours before the bombing occurred, casting suspicion on the decision. ”

Newsmax reported that "Yemen's former interior minister helped the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole to pass through security checkpoints in the months leading up to the 2000 bombing, according to a document read out in court Wednesday by a lawyer for five of the accused plotters."

Then consider the timing of the attack: October 2000, just THREE WEEKS before the US presidental election. Any embarrassment to Clinton would have, of course, reflected on Gore, who was, afterall, inextricably linked to Clinton as his VP. The attack undoubtedly took a few weeks to plan - that would have put the initiation stages of the attack back into September. In September, following the Democratic Convention, Al Gore had pulled ahead of Bush substantially in the polls for the first time.

Next, you have Bodine is in place as ambassador of Yemen - a true friend to the NeoCons, as her history attests.

Last, the motive behind blocking an investigation by John O'Neill - a VERY savvy, very thorough investigator - becomes clear if there WAS high level intrigues taking place. If anyone had been able to uncover this, it would have been O'Neill. And O'Neill would not have allowed it to be swept under the carpet.

So, assessing all the above evidence, is it such a stretch to imagine that cooperation between the Bush cartel and Saleh is ongoing, and that the nature of this cooperation is not necessarily in the best interests of the US?
First of all, the escape occurred just two months or so after Saleh met with Team Bush - about how long it would take to dig a 450-foot tunnel if you were provided with shovels and given the green light to dig away. Second, Yemen officials did not report the escape until the escapees were safely out of the area.

In any case, it will be extremely interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks as Bush faces an investigation of the NSA wiretapping and his numbers continue to plummet. With Al Qaeda terrorists conveniently on the loose, the stage is set for any number of possibilities, from a new, genuine terrorist attack in the US to a Bush wave of fear-mongering aimed at justifying his wiretapping and giving him an excuse to appear to be "America's protector." The conspiracy theorist worst-case scenario would be that a desperate White House helps engineer a major US attack - then blames it on Al Qaeda and claims it could have been prevented if only the wiretapping operation had been left alone and unexposed.