Mastermind of U.S.S. Cole Bombing Dodges Legal Bullet for Now [UPDATED]

What a mess. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged mastermind of the October 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, no longer faces charges for his terrorist past. According to ABC News:

As President Obama prepared to order the Department of Defense’s Military Commission to withdraw charges against terrorist suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri on Friday afternoon, the convening authority for the Commission, Susan Crawford, withdrew the charges on her own Thursday night.

The charges were withdrawn without prejudice, meaning they later can be reinstated in a military commission or pursued in a civilian court. Al-Nashiri will remain in custody.

This is one of the many fuck ups by George Bush. Al-Nashiri was captured back October 2002 and, despite having him in custody for more than six years, the Bushies could not figure out what to do with him. This one ain’t on Barack.

And while we are at it, we would not be in this dilemma if the Commander of the U.S.S. cole, Kirk Lippold, had done his job in the first place. That clown failed to implement his ship’s security plan and created an opening that allowed the terrorists to attack the Cole. Instead of doing the decent thing and keeping his yap shut, Lippold is back seeking public attention.

Asked for reaction to the news, Commander Kirk Lippold (Ret.), former Commander aboard the U.S.S. Cole when it was bombed on October 12, 2000, told ABC News that he was “concerned” about the move.

“For some reason the administration says what’s been expressed through the legislature is not sufficient,” Lippold said of the military commissions, which he said had “undergone extensive legal and legislative review…They need to allow the process to go forward.”

The 26-year Navy veteran said he found the decision to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay “disappointing,” but he seemed willing to hear the president out.

“I’m interested in hearing what his long-term plan is on how he’s going to deal with the detainees because he hasn’t articulated that,” he said. “He may have a clear-cut path that may massage some of the concerns that I know many of the families have right now.”

Lippold, you failed to deploy patrol boats. You failed to put security watches on deck with fully loaded weapons. You failed as a Commander and because you failed to do your job you made it possible for terrorists to hit your ship. You should have blown the assholes out of the water before they got close to your ship’s hull. But you failed. So before you start bashing Barack Obama take a good long look in the mirror and realize that if you had done your job right in the first place al-Nashiri would be just another frustrated terrorist with a bunch of dead buddies.

UPDATE–The ignorance of some of you folks is unbelievable. Soldier4Hillary is especially ignorant on this count. I am not siding with any fucking terrorist. The facts are simple. The port was a high threat port. The Captain had a security plan that required him to put patrol boats in the harbor and ARMED guards on the deck ready to fire. He did not do either of these. His failure to take basic security precautions was equal to George Bush ignoring the CIA warning that Al Qaeda was ready to strike inside the United States.

This is not Monday morning quarterbacking. It is a very simple principle–if you have a security plan FUCKING PUT IT INTO PLACE. Real simple.