NORFOLK, Va. — It has been over 18 years since the terrorist attack against the Norfolk-based USS Cole claimed the lives of 17 sailors and wounded 37 others, and the man who allegedly orchestrated the suicide bombing in October of 2000 is no closer to going on trial.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri has been charged as the mastermind in the al Qaida plot and has been held at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002. But a federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out three years worth of legal proceedings.
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that a military judge improperly continued to preside over the case after he sought a job in the Justice Department, beginning in 2015.
That isn't good news for Tony VanCampen and his shipmates who have been waiting a long time for justice.
"Speaking primarily for myself, it's annoying," he said. "Most of the crew feels like we have been put in a subservient position to the defendant. Our rights as the injured party seem to have been left completely out of the picture."
VanCampen, who plays the bugle at the annual USS Cole remembrance ceremonies, questions if the seemingly endless legal wrangling and procedural delays will keep the defendant from ever being tried.
"I don't trust the process as far as I can throw it, and I can't even pick it up," he said. "But I don't think he'll ever be out to commit another crime."
Jamal Gunn, whose brother Cheronne was among the 17 sailors who were killed in the attack, also expressed disappointment over the delay.
"It's unfortunate, but it's kind of what we expect," he said.
If there ever is a trial and a conviction, al Nashiri could get the death penalty.