USS Cole, Five Years Ago.

The bombing of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden happened five years ago today. Michelle Malkin asks that we all Remember the Cole.

Seventeen Sailors were killed in the bombing, and marked an escalation of an already declared war on the United States. It is worth noting that the feeble reaction to the Cole contributed to the disdain that bin Laden held for the US and convinced hin that the country would never fight. Turns out he was wrong about that, and I'm not so sure that the country made a concious decision to turn away from Gore and elect Bush. And while I admittedly don't know what Gore's response to September 11 would have been, I suspect that the pattern had already been set.

We have moved from paralysis to action, thankfully. Fighting a war takes might but it also takes will. When you ask what we are fighting for, think of the Cole and those seventeen stars on her deck.

Comments

[salvage]

Yeah! Good thing Bush caught bin Landen by invading Iraq. If only Clinton had invaded Iraq back then and caught bin Laden earlier 9-11 would have never happened.

[Jett-Parmer]

Having worked to repair the Cole while she was tied up peirside in Pasacagoula, MS, I met some of the crew who served during the attack. They were typical of the new Navy, young, eager and very intelligent. To a person they were stunned at the visciousness of the attack, but more importantly, they were saddened that ultimately civilians had to suffer in the 9/11 attacks before decisive action was taken against our enemies.

These sailors had signed up for their service and sacrifice, specifically to protect the citizens of our nation. It took such a cataclysmic event to rouse our nation from its slumbering ignorance of the threat posed by the Islamic fascists to our whole world.