Rating: 
Summary: Operation Bojinka
Review: Retired Lt. Col. Patterson opened his book by saying this would not be a personal attack on the President and Mrs. Clinton, then he proceeds to personally attack them almost every single time he mentions their names.
I agree with just about everything he said about the President as far as the Security of this nation goes. He said he hadn't voted in the election that brought the President to office, but given his oblivious bent I somehow find this hard to believe. Thousands of our fighting men have died to give us the right to vote, and this patriot doesn't even bother to vote in a Presidential election? In this book he often appears to be able to read people's minds as he is always commenting on what people thought.
But none of this matters. What matters is what he wrote on page 139. On this page while commenting on a speech that President Clinton made at a memorial service at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida for the airmen slain by the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Riyadh, SA, Lt. Col. Patterson says, "During the summer of the 1996 attacks, I myself learned firsthand that the administration knew that terrorist were plotting to use commercial airliners as weapons."
He then goes on to mention he learned this from reading a Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) about "Operation Bojinka". This is a reference to Intel from the Philippines given to our Intelligence agencies in 1995 regarding a plan to crash commercial airlines into buildings. One of the targets mentioned in the brief was CIA headquarters.
The fact that he admits to reading a PDB is an admission of a possible security violation. Even if Lt. Col. Patterson had the necessary clearance to view the report contained in the PDB, he certainly didn't have "a need to know" otherwise he and the President would have sat down and gone over the briefings together.
But a possible security violation is not the most interesting thing about his mention of "Operation Bojinka". What he is saying is that he has personal knowledge that the President, and therefore our Intelligence agencies since they prepare the briefs, was aware of plans to use commercial airliners as missiles at least 6 years before 9/11/2001.
Did all this information just disappear after Clinton left office? Did the entire Intelligence community get collective amnesia? Did they just forget to mention this to the Bush administration?
They must have because the present Administration claims they had no idea that such a thing could happen. Never heard of that sort of thing. How could anyone even think of such a thing?
Buzz is right, President Clinton was a liar, he put this country in danger with his policies, but he ain't the only President who has been lying to us and putting this country in danger.
9-11 happened on Bush's watch, not Clintons, and that, dear readers, is surely what this book is meant to make you forget.
I give this book three stars only because Lt. Col Patterson proves that the Bush administration is either inept and uninformed when it comes to security matters, or that they have willfuly lied about 9-11.
Either way we are no safer than we were under Clinton.
If you really want to know something, skip this book and read "The War on Freedom".
Rating: 
Summary: You just have to laugh
Review: Nothing,nothing. There is nothing new in this book that the right wing conservatives have not screamed at us for the last two years.
Mr. Patterson comes across as a wimp who is looking for revenge.The people that give this book four stars must spend their days listening to Russ, and watching what Murdoch gives them on Fox news.The author outlines for us his own personal conclusions on foreign affairs which run the gambit of being simplistic to just out and out chest pounding and saber rattling.You just have to laugh and laugh I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Insider With A Different Perspective
Review: I suspect that Patterson and Morris feel the same about Clinton for very different resasons. Patterson understands the implications of Clinton's failures on the military and the nation. Beyond ignoring critical calls from his national security advisor while hanging out with golf buddies and running a Whitehouse the more resembled Animal House, the critical failing of Clinton was a failure of leadership. Patterson understands and disscusses the implications of this most tragic shortcomming.Book is well written with the passion of a career officer and a gentleman. Highly recommended, even for those who love Clinton
Rating: 
Summary: A Very Editorialized Eyewitness View
Review: As I picked up this book and started reading I couldn't shake a nagging question: Why would a Pilot, a 'golden boy' with two OPRs signed by the Commander-in-Chief retire as a LtCol (O-5)? He should have been a shoe-in for Colonel (O-6) below-the-zone. I admit to being less-than a fan of our former Commander-in-Chief. I have my own eyewitness accounts of questional practices and leadership travesties, so LtCol Patterson's accounts added to my belief that as a nation we are fortunate the Presidency is term-limited. Yet the editorial that is Chapter Five had no place in an "Eyewitness Account." Patterson's personal opinions were not conducive to telling this tale, and ironically his opinion about women in combat roles has already been discounted by the performance of women in Operation Iraqi Freedom. So much of the diatribe was sheer foolishness. I would have preferred a fact-based, chronological account of LtCol Patterson's experience in this White House job. The story, devoid of the editorials, is worth reading (despite being poorly written), but borrow it or check it out of the library.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn!
Review: I think Clinton was a disgusting President but this hit piece is a waste of money. It's very short and a large part of the book is filled w/ dopey indexes and the author's career history. Whoop-dee-doo. Some of the anectdotal information is interesting, but there is too little of it. The good stuff in this book could fit into a 10 page pamphlet. The rest is fluff. A REALLY good indictment of the moral spinelessness of the Clinton Administration is Gary Aldrich's "Unlimited Access".
Rating:
Summary: Another All Too Predictable Right Wing Litter Box Filler
Review: The central theme of most of the books from the right wing has been to blame Bill Clinton for anything and everything that has ever happened. Talking about Clinton keeps people occupied and avoids questions about the many failures of the present administration. Clinton is ranked by historians as one of the 10 best presidents and the record of his administration with peace and prosperity speaks for itself. Bush will go down in history as the worst president in the history of the United States and most likely the worst world leader in all of human history. A million more Republican sponsored sleaze books will not change that.
Rating:
Summary: Finally! Someone isn't intimidated by Billary!
Review: This book is something that all liberals and Billophiles should read and let it sink in!! Bill was the worst president of this country's history. This book goes into great detail. It isn't tabloidish, it doesn't seek to exploit, it just is a discussion of the facts of what the handler of the "Nuclear Football" -- the man who was next to Bill practically all the time -- got to see: the Clintons both had two faces each. Hillary was given to temper. Bill was lecherous (we knew) and whipped (not literally) by Hillary. Both were prejudiced against gays and blacks. They were ruthless people. Someone finally told the truth...now the liberal papers and Billophiles are unable to explain anything away .... there is just plain too much that needs explaining. Read this book. I stayed up all night, I was so engrossed.
Rating:
Summary: A decent work on our damaged National Security
Review: In a period spanning two years from May of 1996 to May of 1998, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Patterson presents readers with a very candid and objective look at just how precarious our National Security was during the Clinton administration. In a word, frightening. To be quite blunt, it is not far from the truth to say that Bill Clinton decimated the United States military during his presidential term. Downsizing units and assets from all service branches virtually assured that our military could not support engagements on two different fronts at the same time and placed our military strength in a questionable perspective. Not being someone who is afraid to show his true colors, Bill Clinton openly regarded the military with contempt and demonstrated this time and again while in office. As a personal military aide to the president, author Robert Patterson was a perfect eyewitness to rude and discourteous behavior afforded to U.S. servicemen by the Clinton administration. Many things said and done in and out of the White House were ethically and morally debased and, at various times, completely irresponsible. Regarding the safety of the United States as a whole, the Clinton administration presented a cavalier attitude as to the standards we should have employed to protect our own. One glaring example of a missed opportunity was the abject failure to act on reliable and timely intelligence data regarding the removal of Usama Bin Laden from the terrorist scene. Upon failing this, the United States and other countries would eventually endure many tragic events perpetrated by Usama Bin Laden and his maniacal Al-qaeda organization which continues to haunt us to this day. Dereliction of Duty is a well written and matter of fact narrative detailing our National Security status during a time of severe crisis and the dubious actions of the Clinton bureaucracy. Author Robert Patterson does not attack Bill Clinton personally but keeps pace nicely in an honest and straightforward presentation of his material that makes for a satisfying reading experience. There is no doubt that some of the content in this book will probably anger and disturb you but it is nevertheless highly recommended to everyone being that Americans really should know what Bill Clinton had a hand in doing to our country and how repercussions from his mistakes continue to affect us even today.
Rating:
Summary: Makes the Air Force look bad
Review: The author's argument is that the Clinton Administration compromised national security and eventually led to the attacks of 9-11. I fully agree with this argument, and I have always despised Clinton for this and many other issues. However, this argument and supporting evidence is about 20% of the entire book. The other 80% is a diatribe of whining about how he
felt so personally disgusted by the Clinton's. To be honest, I agree with this too, but for the most part it had nothing to do with national security. For instance, Colonel Buzz felt that it was beneath him to carry the golf bags or the luggage of the Clintons and their croneys in typical Air Force fashion. As anyone can see from the fitness reports that Buzz so graciously included in the appendix, this fell within his general duties and he would have done the same and much more if he had ever worked as the aide to a general (e.g. shining boots, arranging his uniforms). I suppose Colonel Buzz did these duties grudgingly because he did not have the backbone to decline (well, he probably would have lost his career, but he would have lived with the knowledge that his principles were intact) or possibly because he disrespected the President personally (which of course should have no impact on his ability to perform his duties professionally). Buzz's lack of professionalism only serves to reflect badly upon the Air Force and officers of the other armed services. Major Rob
U.S. Army
Rating:
Summary: No substance
Review: This book was a disappointment. No one would argue the points Patterson is making when it comes to the integrity and character of Clinton, but his conclusions are based on few observations (at least few that he shares) and many of them are repeated several times. Clinton and his administration was a disgrace, but Patterson doesnt bring anything new to this discussion at all.
Large parts of the book are more like a biography of Patterson, who has appearently flown on nearly every mission that is worth speaking of, but who has been of absolutely no consequence to decision making in any administration. On the contrary his job as military aide to the president seems to have been more about caddying than about carrying out a top military job. On top that Patterson has a rather simplistic view on world politics and seems to want to hunt down and kill everyone that might potentially be a threat to United States.
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