On November 9, 2011, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was finally arraigned by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay on charges of murder, terrorism and hijacking. His trial is not set to begin before November 2012, but is expected to be delayed by several months or even years later.
The accused terrorist has been in U.S. custody since 2006.
In August 2010, the Obama administration actually set aside the prosecution of al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind behind the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.
The Justice Department filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, stating that "no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future."
The statement was quietly hidden in a motion to dismiss a petition by Nashiri's attorneys, and of course, all but completely ignored by the mainstream press.
The move by the Obama administration to at least temporarily delay trial is a puzzling one since military prosecutors have been prepared to try Nashiri for months, and had planned to do so this summer.
On June 30, 2008, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann announced charges against Nashiri for “organizing and directing†the bombing plot, and that the Defense Department would seek the death penalty against the Saudi national.
On October 12, 2000, while the USS Cole was anchored off the port of Aden, in Yemen, when a small boat filled with explosives pulled alongside the ship and the terrorists aboard, detonated their charges. The explosion ripped open a 40-by-40-foot hole in the ship's port side, killing 17 sailors and injuring another 39.
Those lost were:
Hull Maintenance Technician Second Class Kenneth Eugene Clodfelter, 21, of Mechanicsville, Va.
Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow, 35, of Morrisville, Pa.
Mess Management Specialist Seaman Lakeina Monique Francis, 19, of Woodleaf, N.C.
Information Systems Technician Timothy Lee Gauna, 21, of Rice, Texas
Signalman Seaman Cherone Louis Gunn, 22, of Rex, Ga.
Seaman James Rodrick McDaniels, 19, of Norfolk, Va.
Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto, 24, of Fond du Lac, Wis.
Electronics Warfare Technician Second Class Ronald Scott Owens, 24, of Vero Beach, Fla.
Seaman Lakiba Nicole Palmer, 22, of San Diego, Calif.
Engineman Fireman Joshua Langdon Parlett, 19, of Churchville, Md.
Fireman Patrick Howard Roy, 19, of Cornwall on Hudson, N.Y.
Electronics Warfare Technician First Class Kevin Shawn Rux, 30, of Portland, N.D.
Mess Management Specialist Third Class Ronchester Manangan Santiago, 22, Kingsville, Texas
Operations Specialist Second Class Timothy Lamont Saunders, 32, of Ringgold, Va.
Fireman Gary Graham Swenchonis Jr., 26, Rockport, Texas
Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss.
Seaman Craig Bryan Wibberley, 19, of Williamsport, Md.
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