Charges dropped against USS Cole suspect

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has dropped charges against the man suspected of masterminding the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were dismissed "without prejudice" -- meaning they could be refiled later -- by Susan Crawford, convening authority at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, CNN reported.

Crawford's actions cancels a Monday hearing in the Guantanamo court that would have set up a confrontation between President Barack Obama and the Pentagon over the prison's closure, Politico said. Now, all cases at Guantanamo are in line with the president's order to halt court proceedings at the detention center, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Nashiri is accused of planning the October 2000 bombing of the Cole while it was in Aden, a Yemeni port. The attack killed 17 U.S. sailors and crippled the vessel.

For practical purposes, Crawford's ruling reversed a decision by U.S. Army Col. James L. Pohl, the presiding judge at Nashiri's trial, who had denied Obama's request for a 120-day pause in prosecutions of the approximately 245 detainees held at the camp while the administration reviewed whether to continue using the military tribunals established by President George Bush to try terrorists. At the time, Pohl called Obama's request "not reasonable" and not "in the interests of justice."

Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, Cole's captain when the attack occurred, told The Washington Times the Obama administration's decision ignored the military commissions process.

"It appears that the Obama administration, without consideration for its immediate impact or long-term effects, will use a legal maneuver to prevent these detainees from being held accountable for their heinous acts," Lippold said in a statement.