USS Cole Disaster: Government Investigators Release New Details About Blast
BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: Navy salvage teams say they will soon be able to recover the remaining bodies of USS Cole sailors killed in last Thursday's terrorist attack. There are now more than 100 government investigators at the site in Aden, Yemen, and Monday they released new details about the blast, which killed 17 Americans. CNN's military affairs correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, reports.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pentagon sources says tiny fragments of white fiberglass were found on the deck of the USS Cole, evidence the small craft that exploded next to it may not have been a rubber boat as one eyewitness first reported, but rather a boat with a fiberglass hull. And Navy officials are hedging another initial account: that the small boat assisted the USS Cole with one of its mooring lines. Sources say interviews with the Cole's crew have turned up no one who actually saw that. So it's possible the boat simply appeared to be part of the contractor fleet that normally helps ships. Navy officials say standard security procedures of closing some hatches and passageways beforehand prevented the ship from sinking, and noted the ship's crew received high marks in a pre-deployment exercise that included anti-terrorism training.</s>SEAMAN APP. ANDREW NEMETH, U.S. NAVY: The crew wasn't expecting it. I mean, we were ready for a disaster, if it would happen, but we're not always looking forward to one.</s>MCINTYRE: Pentagon sources say it appears several hundred pounds of high explosives were loaded on the small boat in a way that directed almost the full force against the warship's hull. The sophistication of the attack, Pentagon officials say, makes them think Osama bin Laden might be responsible.</s>WILLIAM COHEN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: There are a number of different groups. Osama bin Laden is one of them.</s>MCINTYRE: Among the evidence being examined, port security cameras that may have captured some of the activity prior to the blast. (on camera): And among the key unanswered questions: Who was responsible for the security review of contractors refueling U.S. ships? and was there any lapse in security procedures either by the USS Cole, authorities in Yemen, or U.S. commanders who approved the refueling stop? Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.