SCAPEGOAT?? Commander of USS Cole during attack fails to make captain

[MADem]

ARLINGTON, Va. — The USS Cole’s skipper during the October 2000 terrorist attack that killed 17 sailors has failed to make captain, Navy spokesman Cmdr. David Werner said.

Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, who now works in the Pentagon, was selected for captain in fiscal 2003 but never confirmed by the Senate, a Navy official said.

Last week, Navy Secretary Donald Winter had decided to remove Lippold’s name from the fiscal 2003 promotion list because he was not qualified to become captain, Werner said in a Thursday e-mail to Stars and Stripes.

“Secretary Winter determined that Cmdr. Lippold’s actions as the Commanding Officer of USS Cole prior to the attack on 12 October 2000 did not meet the high standard he expects of Commanding Officers,” Werner said....Command Master Chief James Parlier, who was on the Cole during the attack, said he was saddened to hear the news that Lippold had not made captain.

“I don’t really see how the captain could be held completely responsible when we went in with the force protection we were directed at,” said Parlier, who is now at Naval Station Great Lakes....

(more at link: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?article=39510§ion=104 )

[ComerPerro]

1. He should have sat back and let hundreds die

then Bush would have given him a medal

[wakeme2008]

2. this has always been the Navy way for Captains... You bend a ship

your career is over :shrug:

[mike_c]

3. yep-- it's not really a matter of fairness....

It's just the way it is-- it's the flip side of a promotion system where one can advance relatively predictably by passing through all the expected jobs without screwing up, or at least not too badly.

[MADem]

6. Not always. And he didn't run her aground

John McCain wrecked three airplanes, deprived the USN of his services due to an unanticipated stay in the Hanoi Hilton, and managed to make it to 06 (but DIDN'T make flag, like his dad and grandad, because he was such an asshole--had he kept his mouth shut and head down, he would have).

And Bill McGonagle, skipper of the LIBERTY in CDR command, lost 34 crew, had his ship bombed and napalmed by an ally, and made Captain after the fact.

This is political.

See here: http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=104503&ran=157673

If Lippold and the others are not renominated, they would be required to retire.

For future promotions, the committee plan would give Bush and his successors one year to renominate any officer whose original nomination is not acted on by the Senate. If the p resident fails to act, the officer would be removed from the promotion list and would have to go through the Navy’s internal review process before being nominated a second time.

The law now allows Lippold to remain on the promotion list indefinitely as selected but not confirmed.

Lippold’s leadership in the aftermath of an October 2000 suicide bomber attack on the Cole was widely credited as critical to saving the ship. A Navy investigator, however, concluded that safety precautions Lippold failed to implement might have stopped the attack or reduced its impact on the ship and crew – findings later set aside by then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark....

[Catchawave]

4. He was lucky he wasn't relieved of command....

...and thrown out of the Navy, CO's careers end for a lot less. I think people feel sorry for him because there is no accountability in this administration, starting with Rummy.

[MADem]

7. See the link at post six NT

[Turbineguy]

5. Bad Luck...

the unpardonable sin.