Yemen- Court Allows U.S. to Join USS Cole Case

[Rose Siding]

SAN`A, Yemen -- A Yemeni court on Wednesday granted the U.S. government the right to join the prosecution team in the trial of six men accused of plotting the 2000 attack on the American destroyer USS Cole.

The Oct. 12, 2000, attack killed 17 American sailors when two suicide bombers rammed an explosives-laden boat into the Cole as it refueled in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden. The attack was blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network.

The court approved a request by the prosecution to allow the legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in San'a to join its team and represent the families of the sailors killed in the attack. The U.S. Embassy refused to comment, citing security reasons.

The six accused have been charged with belonging to al-Qaida, forming an armed gang with the purpose of carrying out crimes against the state, resisting authorities and forging documents.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-yemen-cole,0,5378992.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Isn't this the case that FBI agent John O'Neil wasn't allowed to go to Yemen to investigate?