Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.

The collapse of the Cole investigation offers a revealing case study of the U.S. government’s failure to bring al-Qaeda operatives and their leaders to justice for some of the most devastating attacks on American targets over the past decade.

[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050302047.html?wpisrc=newsletter “Read the Article”) (Washington Post)