"Berger ambled down the stairwell and entered the Sit[uation] Room. He picked up the phone at one of the busy controller consoles and called the president. Amazingly, President Clinton was not available. Berger tried again and again. Bin Laden was within striking distance. The window of opportunity was closing fast. The plan of attack was set and the Tomahawk [missile] crews were ready. For about an hour Berger couldn't get the commander in chief on the line. Though the president was always accompanied by military aides and the Secret Service, he was somehow unavailable. Berger stalked the Sit Room, anxious and impatient."

Patterson continues:

"Finally, the president accepted Berger's call. There was discussion, there were pauses – and no decision. The president wanted to talk with his secretaries of Defense and State. He wanted to study the issue further. Berger was forced to wait. The clock was ticking. The president eventually called back. He was still indecisive. He wanted more discussion. Berger alternated between phone calls and watching the clock.

"The dithering continued until it was too late–and bin Laden lived to fight another day. And to plot the Sept. 11 attacks."

That was not an isolated incident. On Sept. 13, 1996, while on the golf course with his lawyer friend Vernon Jordan, President Clinton had refused to take repeated urgent phone calls from Berger, who needed the president's approval for air strikes on Iraq. Patterson wrote: "Pilots were in the cockpits, waiting to launch, targets were identified, everything was in place, all [Berger] needed was the go-ahead."

He never got it. The protective cover of night lifted, and the mission was aborted.

~Dereliction of Duty
Lt. Colonel Robert Patterson