Abu Hamza may be linked to the attacks on the USS Cole battleship in Yemen, which killed 17 sailors and injured over 30 on October 12, 2000. The evidence has been there all the time, but not looked at properly. The United States has a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the location of those persons who committed or aided in the attack on the USS Cole.

Even before the USS Cole terror attack, Hamza seemed to suggest his groups dislike US ships using the port of Aden. In statement made in January 1999, Abu Hamza said: "The events in Yemen of hostage taking are a direct protests by the Yemeni people against the severe oppression the Yemeni government is forcing on its own people and a direct protest against the American and British use of Port Aden as a re-fueling base to launch the second phase of the attack on the Iraqi people!"