USS Cole case judge quitting military

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba – In another setback to the resumption of the USS Cole tribunal at ‘Gitmo’, the newest military judge, Col. Shelley Schools, who was to preside in the case, found a new job in an immigration court. It is the second time a judge in the case has found a new job in an immigration court. In August, Col. Schools was assigned to preside on the death-penalty trial against Saudi captive Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. She was chosen to replace Col. Vance Spath, who retired and has begun serving as an immigration judge, too. The next judge would be the fourth assigned to handle pretrial proceedings in the capital case against Nashiri – the alleged architect of al-Qaida’s suicide bombing of the U.S. Navy’s USS Cole off Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. Seventeen U.S. sailors died and dozens were injured in the blast. (Source: Miami Herald 01/07/19) Gulf Coast Note: One of three sailors then from the Pensacola, Fla., or with family in the area was injured. USS Cole returned to the fleet following a 14-month restoration project at then-Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ship Systems sector at Pascagoula, Miss. The ship departed Pascagoula on April 19, 2002, to return to her homeport in Norfolk, Va.