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Pastimes : MOLEGATE! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (1021)	10/15/2000 10:40:57 PM
From: Carolyn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1719

I haven't read everything yet. Is this true? If so, That Man will be the epitome of Shame!

To: sandintoes who wrote (1021)	10/16/2000 7:09:16 AM
From: Vendit™	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1719

Clinton-Gore Navy Cutbacks Led to USS Cole Disaster: Hackworth Cutbacks in U.S. naval forces during the Clinton-Gore administration are responsible for forcing the destroyer USS Cole to refuel in the port of Aden, Yemen, despite the city's reputation as a known terrorist hotbed, defense expert Col. David Hackworth said on Saturday. Seventeen U.S. sailors are now believed dead after an explosion opened up a 20-by-40-foot gash along the Cole's waterline on Thursday as it docked for refueling. Hackworth based his assessment on a recent statement by the Navy's chief of operations. The decorated combat veteran made his comments to WABC radio's Mike Gallagher, who asked about persistent rumors that budget constraints during the Clinton-Gore years have forced the Navy to mothball ships that could have refueled the USS Cole at sea. GALLAGHER: Does this all go back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in your view? HACKWORTH: Well, I don't want to politicize a great tragedy, 17 young people dead. [But] when we look at the size of the U.S. fleet when Reagan turned over the reins to Bush and Bush turned it over to Clinton, it was in the range of 520 ships. And now we're down to 320. The chief of naval operations, Admiral Clark, recently said - when the question was put to him, why wasn't this ship refueled at sea - he said, "We don't have enough oilers." Compounding the problem, said Hackworth, is the Navy's dwindling fleet, a predicament that forced the USS Cole to enter the Aden port without any escort. "That ship was part of a battle group with a carrier," Hackworth told Gallagher. "It was stripped off from that mission, which was looking after the Middle East, and sent up by itself, with no escort, with no other ships, to go into the Gulf area." Hackworth said the USS Cole had been dispatched to relieve another ship that was part of the Navy's effort to keep Saddam Hussein in check. newsmax.com