Morons "Asked if it could have been deliberate."
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>DUBAI (Reuters) - An explosives-laden boat rammed a U.S. Navy destroyer in a Yemeni port on Thursday in what U.S. officials said was an apparent suicide bombing that killed four sailors aboard the warship.
Navy officials in Bahrain, where the Fifth Fleet is based, said the small boat rammed into the USS Cole, one of the world's most advanced guided missile destroyers.
The blast also injured 36 others aboard, five seriously. Twelve were missing several hours after the explosion caused a big hole on the left side of the listing vessel, which was on a refueling stop in Yemen's southern port of Aden.
``We have every reason to suspect it was a terrorist blast and no reason to suspect that it wasn't,'' one defense official told Reuters in Washington.
The attack came amid mounting anti-U.S. sentiment in much of the Arab world, including Yemen, over Washington's perceived support for Israel during two weeks of fierce Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The White House said President Clinton (news - web sites) expressed horror at the attack on the Cole.
U.S. officials said reports from the scene indicated that two men aboard the small boat that was assisting the Cole with mooring lines in the Aden harbor stood at attention just before the blast destroyed the boat and ripped a hole in the side of the ship.
``This is looking more and more like terrorism,'' a senior Defense Department official said. ``Of course, you can't confirm anything without a full investigation -- but that's what is looks like -- deliberate murder.''
Albright Defiant, Vows Action
A defiant Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the United States would not be cowed by the attack.
``We will continue taking every step we can to protect our troops and our diplomats but we will not retreat from our responsibilities,'' Albright said.
She added Washington would take all measures to protect its people, but added: ``It does not mean we can crawl into an ostrich-like mode. We are eagles.''
On the day of the attack on the warship, Israeli helicopter gunships blasted Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with missiles to avenge the killing of two Israeli soldiers by a lynch mob.
Navy spokesperson Lieutenant Meghan Mariman said in Washington that the U.S. sailors were trying ``very hard to keep the ship afloat,'' adding that the vessel was carrying about 300 people.
The last major attack on U.S. targets was in August 1998 when twin blasts rocked the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more than 250 people.
Yemen Says Blast Not Deliberate Act
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh offered his condolences to Clinton and the ``friendly American people'' but said he believed the blast was not caused by a deliberate act.
State-run Yemeni television said Saleh spoke by telephone to Albright and assured her that Sanaa was investigating the blast.
Lieutenant-Commander Daren Pelkie, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, told Reuters: ``A U.S. army major saw a rubber raft run into the ship, causing the explosion.''
He said the destroyer, commissioned in 1996, had been refueling in Aden when the explosion occurred at 12:15 p.m. Bahrain time.
The Arleigh Burke Class destroyer Cole is one of the world's most sophisticated warships.
The 505-foot-long Cole, with a crew of about 350, is equipped with an advanced Aegis radar defense with missiles and guns to protect itself and aircraft carrier battle groups against simultaneous attack by planes, missiles and ships.
Asked if the explosion was a deliberate attack, Pelkie said: ``We don't know why a rubber raft would be carrying explosives.''
``The explosion was big enough to cause a 20-foot by 40-foot'' gash in the left side of the ship along the waterline and that the vessel was listing four degrees.
Lieutenant Terrence Dudley from the Fifth Fleet said: ``USS Cole has been stabilized and the flooding has been contained. Luckily there have been no fires.''
Yemeni officials earlier said the blast occurred inside the vessel.
``Preliminary information indicates that the explosion happened inside the ship in the supplies section,'' a Yemeni naval official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
But Dudley said: ``We know it (the blast) occurred externally. An investigation is underway.''
In Aden, witnesses said the explosion was so powerful that it rattled buildings near the port, one of the Arabian peninsula's largest.
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[This message has been edited by LawDog (edited October 12, 2000).]
