JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: While most of the FBI agents investigating the Cole attack are now back in the United States, dozens are still working in Yemen. And as CNN's Walter Rodgers reports, they face a formidable task.</s>WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The remaining 50 or so FBI investigators probing the attack on the destroyer Cole left a hotel in Aden to be billeted aboard some of these U.S. Navy ships off the coast of Yemen. Officially, the explanation is the remaining FBI agents will be safer at sea, and it will reduce the U.S. profile in this corner of the Arab world at a time when Americans are not very popular in the Middle East. Unofficially, American sources here say the remaining FBI contingent left amid an undercurrent of frustration. One source said -- quote -- "They were not being allowed to do what they wanted to do." Yemeni sources confirm many problems in the probe of the attack on the Cole. They say the FBI has not been allowed to talk to suspects or eyewitnesses, and has only seen edited transcripts of the Yemeni police interviews. One U.S. official explained, it is a combination of things: Yemeni sovereignty, national pride, and the Arab sense of family, a penchant for not wanting outsiders to look inside this investigation. Additionally, this same source said there is the "human rights factor." Specifically, the Yemeni police methods of eliciting information might not meet U.S. legal standards if the perpetrators of the attack on the Cole are ever brought to trial. Much of what the United States discovers from this investigation will probably come from the crates and crates of evidence collected at the various crime scenes. There, they say, there has been good cooperation with the Yemeni police. (on camera): Upwards of 100 FBI technicians have now returned to the United States with that forensic evidence gathered here over the past two weeks. Walter Rodgers, CNN, Aden, Yemen.
FBI Agents Investigating Attack on USS Cole Want More Cooperation From Yemeni Authorities