Prosecutors charge accused USS Cole mastermind

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military prosecutors have filed charges against the alleged mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors in 2000, a Pentagon official said on Monday. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian national of Yemeni descent, faces charges including murder and terrorism for the attack that took place in the Yemeni port of Aden. Prosecutors have also filed charges against him over a failed attack on another U.S. warship and an attack on a French super tanker in 2002, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann told reporters. "Mr al-Nashiri is charged with organizing and directing those attacks," said Hartmann, the legal adviser to the body charged with overseeing the military commissions system set up to try prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Prosecutors filed eight charges... [read full story]