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Article: Tragedy on the USS Cole
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 17, 2000
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Former Navy secretary John Lehman stated in an Oct. 15 op-ed
column that the captain of the USS Cole did everything he could to
protect his ship and suggested that intelligence sources failed to
warn the captain of possible danger while in that area.
The presumption that a career naval officer needs to be warned
about combat readiness in a place that is swarming with terrorists
points out serious deficiencies with our officer corps. It is the
same kind of naive complacency that set up the attack on Pearl
Harbor, even after commanders there had received a telegram stating,
"This is a war warning."
Why did the Cole's captain and the officers on duty allow a