Posted on 10/12/2010 10:23:28 AM PDT by FTJM
10 years ago today, two Al Qaeda terrorists pulled alongside the USS Cole during a routine refueling in Aden, Yemen and detonated a suicide bomb. It was the deadliest attack on a United States naval vessel since 1987.
17 sailors were killed. 39 more were wounded. The 17 sailors who died left behind 11 children. Never forget the names of the fallen who gave their lives in service to our country.
1. Electronics Technician 1st Class Richard Costelow 2. Mess Management Specialist Lakina Francis 3. Information Systems Technician Tim Guana 4. Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn 5. Seaman James McDaniels 6. Engineman 2nd Class Mark Nieto 7. Electronics Warfare Technician 3rd Class Ronald Owens 8. Seaman Recruit Lakiba Parker 9. Engineman Fireman Joshua Parlett 10. Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy 11. Electronics Warfare Technician Kevin Rux 12. Petty Officer 3rd Class Ron Santiago 13. Operations Special 2nd Class Timothy Sanders 14. Fireman Gary Swenchonis Jr 15. Ensign Andrew Triplett 16. Seaman Apprentice Craig Wibberly 17. Hull Maintenance Technician 3rd Class Kenneth Clodfelter.
This was a deliberate act of war by the Al Qaeda organization, and it went ignored by the Clinton administration. The Bush administration responded on November 3, 2002, when the CIA fired a AGM-114 Hellfire missile from a Predator UAV at a vehicle carrying Abu Ali al-Harithi, a suspected planner of the bombing plot and Ahmed Hijazi, a U.S. citizen. Both men died. Now, the Obama administration has shelved prosecution of Abd al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the bombing.
Indeed, October 12 has become a forgotten day of infamy. Dont let the memory of the horror of that day fade away, and dont let the memories of the sailors who were murdered die. Remember their sacrifices today. Remember the Cole.
The media picks and chooses which “anniversaries” to commemorate.
OH YES, I WONDER IF OLE CLINTON IS HAVING A MOMENT OF SILENCE AS HE SHILLS FOR DUMMIES.
And the White House has forgotten
In the Tidewater VA area, the media is all over this remembrance.
God bless those 17 sailors and their families.
(Photo Courtesy of the United States Army)
This picture will stay with me as long as I draw breath. The father of Signalman Seaman Recruit Cherone Gunn, a Navy Veteran himself, weeps at his son's casket at Arlington. There was a video of him saluting his son's casket before collapsing in tears.
This picture is the sum total of the War on Terror, the carnage, the deaths, the sorrow and grief imposed upon us by the "religion of peace."
I will never forget. Ever.
The current administration has boasted “we can absorb a terrorist attack” instead of declaring “NEVER AGAIN.”
Seaman Cherone Gunn was a 2nd generation sailor (at least)... I served with his dad onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt.
My son and I both lost shipmates at the Pentagon Sep 11th.
(staring at the screen, trying to figure out what else to say...)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.