Yemen's former interior minister helped the alleged planner of the USS Cole attack pass through security checkpoints in the months before the 2000 bombing, according to a document.By my calculations, this brings it officially to 100% of the population of Yemen that was involved in the Cole bombing... | Buncha slackers, can't ever give 110%. | Defense lawyer Abdul Aziz al-Samawi read an official letter by former Interior Minister Hussein Arab, who was removed in April 2001, instructing security authorities to give "safe passage to Sheik Mohammed Omar al-Harazi with three bodyguards without being searched or intercepted. All security forces are instructed to cooperate with him and facilitate his missions." The order was valid from April 2000 until the end of 2000. The Cole was attacked Oct. 12, 2000.These things have expiration dates? Cheez... | Al-Harazi is one of the names used by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the sixth defendant and alleged planner of the suicide attack that killed 17 American sailors on the ship. Al-Nashiri is being tried in absentia. He is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location. "Melinda, the 'medium' sized panties, please." | If convicted, the men could face the death penalty. But that sentence is considered unlikely because the defendants are not accused of being the actual bombers. |