October 12, 2000: Cameraman MissesColeAttack because He Oversleeps

Al-Qaeda operative Fahad al-Quso is supposed to video the attack on the USS Cole that occurs on this day (see October 12, 2000). However, al-Quso sleeps through his alarm and is not able to set his camera up in time. The bombers call him repeatedly on his cell phone until seconds before the crash, but he is in a taxi when the explosion occurs. He immediately goes into hiding and the camera is later found at his sister’s house. Osama bin Laden had specifically asked that the attack be videoed and had allocated funds for this purpose. The CIA will later trace $5,000 sent by bin Laden to the bombers’ cell in Yemen. [Miniter, 2003, pp. 217, 229; New Yorker, 7/10/2006 ]