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Relatives of seven victims of USS Cole bombing sue Sudan

By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press Writer

NORFOLK, Va., July 19, 2004 (AP) — The families of seven of the 17 sailors killed in the bombing of the USS Cole are suing Sudan, contending the North African republic financed, trained and harbored the terrorists responsible for the attack.

USS_Cole.jpgThe federal wrongful death lawsuit seeks at least $10 million each for six spouses or significant others of the sailors and at least $5 million for each of eight children of the victims and the brother of one sailor.

“It’s something that’s primarily for the widows and for the children of those killed on the Cole,” John Clodfelter of Mechanicsville, whose son, Kenneth was a Cole sailor, said Monday. His daughter-in-law and grandson are plaintiffs in the lawsuit; Jennifer Clodfelter did not wish to comment, he said.

“Those widows and children very much need it,” Clodfelter said of the damages. Several families have had financial hardships since the sailors died, and one widow had to sell her house and her car and move back in with her parents, he said.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The destroyer is based at Norfolk Naval Station, and several of the families lived in the area at the time of the Oct. 12, 2000 attack.

Suicide bombers pulled an explosive-packed boat alongside the Cole as the destroyer refueled in the Yemen port of Aden, blasting a large hole in the ship’s side. The attack was blamed on the al-Qaida terrorist network.

“The bombing of the USS Cole was an act of international terrorism knowingly and deliberately aided and abetted by” Sudan, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges the country was a safe haven for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a period of time through 1996 and for other al-Qaida members from 1996 through 2001.

The lawsuit also contends, among other allegations, that:

– Sudan and bin Laden jointly operated a business and a bank, providing support and resources to the terrorists;

– Sudan’s president authorized al-Qaida operatives to enter the country and allowed al-Qaida to avoid paying taxes and duties;

– the Sudanese government permitted bin Laden and al-Qaida to operate training camps in the country to teach terrorists how to make bombs;

– the Sudanese government allowed an al-Qaida operative to ship four crates of explosives from Sudan to Yemen.

The Cole attack, the lawsuit said, was part of a decade-long plan of international terrorism directed at the United States. Al-Qaida could not have existed or planned its acts of terrorism, including the Cole bombing, without Sudan’s support, the lawsuit said. It noted that in 1993, then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher designated Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism because it had harbored bin Laden.

A spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in Washington had no comment because the embassy had not seen the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the families of Richard Costelow, of Morrisville, Pa.; James Rodrick McDaniels, of Norfolk; Andrew Triplett, of Macon, Miss.; Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter of Mechanicsville, Va.; Ronald Scott Owens of Vero Beach, Fla.; Kevin Shaw Rux of Portland, N.D.; and Lakiba Nicole Palmer of San Diego. All but Palmer lived in Virginia when they were aboard the Cole.

Six people accused of being al-Qaida operatives were charged earlier this month in Yemen with plotting the attack.

Saved by the surviving crew from sinking, the $1 billion ship underwent $250 million of repairs at a shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The Cole recently completed its first overseas deployment since the bombing, returning to Norfolk in May after six months in the Mediterranean Sea.

On the Net:

USS Cole: http://www.cole.navy.mil/

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