Suspect in USS Cole bombing killed in an airstrike in Yemen.

The damage done by the bombing. Reuters. 

Jamal al-Badawi, a suspect in the USS Cole bombing, has been killed in an airstrike in Yemen. Reuters. Al-Badawi was indicted in 2003 for his role in the 2000 bombing that killed 17 sailors and almost sunk the guided missile destroyer. Al-Badawi had escaped from Yemeni prisons twice in 2003 and 2006 and remained active with al-Qaeda's Arabian branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). AQAP has lost much of their leadership and terriotry during the Yemeni civil war and have not conducted a major attack on Western targets since 2015's Charlie Hebdo attacks. Al-Badawi was the last major suspect in the USS Cole bombing. 

Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi. Our work against al Qaeda continues. We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019

My Comment:
Good news out of Yemen. Jamal al-Badawi was a bad man and deserved to be brought to justice. It is unfortunate that it took so long for him to meet his end but I am glad that it finally came. Perhaps an airstrike was too good of a death for him but I will take it.

The USS Cole bombing was a watershed moment for the United States but the event was largely overshadowed by 9/11 which happened the year after it. I remembered following the story back when I was still in high school and thinking to myself that al-Qaeda was a pretty big threat. I was obviously proven right when 9/11 came right after.

Comparing the attack to 9/11 isn't fair though as that was the most successful attack in terrorist history. That doesn't mean that the USS Cole bombing wasn't successful. It killed 17 sailors and wounded even more, almost sunk a top of the line destroyer and cost the US government millions of dollars. If it had happened today it would dominate the news cycle for weeks and would be proof that terrorism was on the rise. But due to historical circumstance I feel the attack is largely forgotten.

AQAP has not made the news in awhile. They used to be the worlds 2nd most powerful terror group after ISIS and were responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attacks. They even used the chaos in Yemen to establish their own competing terror statelet. ISIS obviously overshadowed them though and siphoned off a lot of support, recruits and money from AQAP.

However, AQAP's fortunes have changed in the past few years. Both sides of the Yemen conflict are opposed to them and have reduced their holdings immensely. The United States has also launched several attacks against them and has killed much of their leadership. Though the group is still a threat, much like ISIS they have been massively reduced. They have not launched a major international terror attack in quite some time.

I do think this is probably the best way forward for US interests in Yemen. The proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia should not interest us much, so these kinds of targeted strikes against al-Qaeda and ISIS should be the limit of our involvement there. And as those groups are reduced we can withdraw even further. Let the Saudis and Iranians fight it out, as long as AQAP or ISIS does not gain a foothold, we will be fine.