Clinton warns ship’s attackers

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

NORFOLK, Va. -- Honoring the 17 sailors killed "standing guard for peace" aboard the USS Cole, President Clinton warned their attackers today: "You will not find a safe harbor. We will find you and justice will prevail."

Speaking at a ceremony attended by many of the nation's leaders and families of the dead and wounded, Clinton described the unidentified attackers as people who allowed their religion, political, racial, or ethnic views to warp their view of the world. "For them, it is their way or no way," Clinton said.

But the president said such people "can never heal or build harmony or bring people together."

Meanwhile, the bodies of two more American sailors were recovered today from the crippled destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, and the search continued for four others believed still aboard, the Navy said.

Lt. Cmdr. Cate Mueller, a spokeswoman at Navy headquarters in the Pentagon, said the two additional remains -- along with six bodies recovered on Tuesday -- will be flown to Dover Air Force Base, Del., via Bahrain.

In Aden, Yemen, police were questioning the landlord of an apartment where they found bomb-making equipment they have linked to the deadly bombing of the USS Cole, according to people in the Aden neighborhood that has become a focus of the investigation.

Neighbors told the Associated Press today that police also detained for questioning a real estate agent who found the apartment for two men who may have used the explosives materials. The two men have not been located.

Defense Secretary William Cohen, meanwhile, planned to appoint two retired senior military officers to head an independent investigation of the bombing, with special focus on whether there were security lapses, a senior defense official said. Cohen is likely to announce the appointments on Thursday.

FBI director Louis Freeh told the White House he was heading for Yemen as part of the investigation into the apparent terrorist attack on the destroyer. A senior administration official with Clinton on Air Force One, returning from Egypt on Tuesday, said Freeh believes the government of Yemen "is now cooperating fully and genuinely" in the investigation. "He's very pleased with their investigation, and he thought that the first few days had gone well," the official said.

Yemeni officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, identified the possible suspects only as non-Yemeni Arabs. Other Yemeni sources said they were from neighboring Saudi Arabia, but an Interior Ministry spokesman told the state news agency Saba that there was no link to Saudi Arabia.

At today's memorial service in Virginia, some family members of the sailors who died cried as Clinton spoke.

Some sailors injured in the attack on the USS Cole were taken to the ceremony in their home port by ambulance and listened to the president while lying on mobile hospital beds.

Two sailors injured in the attack in Yemen on Thursday remain in Germany undergoing treatment.

"They all had their own stories and their own dreams," said Clinton, who met with victims' families before the public ceremony. He read each of the 17 sailors' names.

"In the names and faces of those we lost and mourn, the world sees our nation's greatest strength," Clinton said.

The ceremony was held at the Norfolk Naval Station's Pier 12. Nearby were two of the Cole's sister ships, the destroyers USS Ross and USS McFaul, and the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and Eisenhower.