Sudan Found Liable for Terrorism in USS Cole Trial

By Douglas Farah

A federal judge in Norfolk, Virginia today found the government of Sudan liable for terrorism for the Oct. 12, 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen.

"There is substantial evidence in this case presented by the expert testimony that the government of Sudan induced the particular bombing of the Cole by virtue of prior actions of the government of Sudan," U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said.

(Full disclosure: I gave a deposition as an expert witness supporting the victims' charge in the Sudan case).

This was a little noticed but important trial for the issue of material support for terrorism. The families of the 17 people killed in the al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole sued the government of Sudan for offering the support that made the attack possible.

It is extremely important, in the ongoing battle with Islamists, to establish clear legal culpability, and the families in the Cole case did that. The judge's decision, not expected for several days, seems to bear out how overwhelming the evidence was.

Another indication is that, unlike the trial for Sudan's responsibility in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, the government of Sudan, run by hardcore Islamists who gave al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden shelter and support, did not take, according to its attorneys, any position on the material facts of the case.
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