Editing USS Cole bombing (section)

===Rules of engagement===
{{location map|Yemen|caption=Approximate location of bombing, Aden Harbor, Yemen|lat_deg=12.8|lat_min=0|lat_sec=0|lon_deg=45.0|lon_min=0|lon_sec=0}}
The destroyer's rules of engagement, as approved by the Pentagon, forbade guards to fire upon the small boat (which was not known to be loaded with explosives) without permission from ''Cole''{{'}}s captain or another officer.<ref name=Robinson>{{Cite news|last=Robinson|first=Stephen|title=Bombed US warship was defended by sailors with unloaded guns|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/1374316/Bombed-US-warship-was-defended-by-sailors-with-unloaded-guns.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/yemen/1374316/Bombed-US-warship-was-defended-by-sailors-with-unloaded-guns.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|journal=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=15 November 2000|access-date=27 May 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Petty Officer John Washak said that right after the blast, a senior chief petty officer ordered him to turn an M-60 machine gun on ''Cole''{{'}}s fantail away from a second small boat approaching. "With blood still on my face", he said, he was told: "That's the rules of engagement: no shooting unless we're shot at." He added, "In the military, it's like we're trained to hesitate now. If somebody had seen something wrong and shot, he probably would have been court-martialed." Petty Officer Jennifer Kudrick said that if the sentries had fired on the suicide craft, "we would have gotten in more trouble for shooting two foreigners than losing seventeen American sailors."<ref name=Robinson /><!----There needs to be a counter-point added here for these "what if" scenarios (if possible). What if they shot at a small boat near-by and killed innocent fishermen? (with sourcing, of course)---->