Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How President Bill Clinton Compromised America's Long-Term National Security (Hardcover)

by Robert Patterson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson was a military aide to President Clinton from May 1996 to May 1998 and one of five individuals entrusted with carrying the "nuclear football"—the bag containing the codes for launching nuclear weapons. This responsibility meant that he spent a considerable amount of time next to the president, giving him a unique perspective on the Clinton administration. Though he arrived at the job "filled with professional devotion and commitment to serve," he left believing that Clinton had "sown a whirlwind of destruction upon the integrity of our government, endangered our national security, and done enormous harm to the American military in which I served."

Dereliction of Duty is not a personal attack on President Clinton or a commentary on his various scandals; rather, it is a "frank indictment of his obvious—to an eyewitness—failure to lead our country with responsibility and honor." Lt. Col. Patterson offers a damning list of anecdotes and charges against the President, including how Clinton lost the nuclear codes and shrugged it off; how he stalled and lost the opportunity to launch a direct strike on Osama bin Laden at a confirmed location; how the President and the First Lady, and much of their staff, consistently treated members of the military with disrespect and disdain; and how Clinton groped a female Air Force enlisted member while aboard Air Force One, among other incidents large and small. A considerable portion of this slim book is devoted to the myriad ways in which President Clinton undermined the military, and hence the security, of the nation. He seriously questions Clinton's decisions to send troops to Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti, and Bosnia to accomplish non-military tasks without clear objectives. Having participated in each of these engagements, Lt. Col. Patterson personally "experienced the frustration of needlessly wasted lives, effort, and national prestige" as well as the alarmingly low morale that Clinton inspired.

This is certainly not the first anti-Clinton book, but it is different in that Patterson does not seem to have a political ax to grind. In fact, at times, he appears apologetic about having to write about his ex-commander in chief. Yet, in the end, this retired soldier felt his last act of service should be to share his experience with his country. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
No man is a hero to his valet-or his personal military aide, to judge by this memoir of the Clinton White House by a retired Air Force colonel who carried Clinton's "nuclear football" and had intimate access to the President from morning jog to evening card game. Although Patterson claims to have no political agenda and to personally like the man, he revisits all the familiar touchstones of conservative Clinton-hatred (he also suggests that the former president bears some responsibility for the events of 9/11). In Patterson's account, Clinton emerges as a careless, disingenuous frat boy, mercilessly hen-pecked by the domineering Hillary, whose tirades leave him looking like a "beaten puppy." He presides over a chaotic administration focused on spin and fund-raising; he fondles an Air Force One stewardess and ogles Patterson's wife in the Oval Office; he loses the nuclear launch codes; and he cheats at golf-which Patterson views as "not just a peccadillo but symptomatic of the way he approached life." Patterson also asserts that Clinton "directly and severely harmed this nation's security." Clinton debilitated the military, Patterson claims, by downsizing it, trying to remove the ban on homosexuals and put women in combat roles, "gutting morale" with pay freezes and "rudderless" peace-keeping missions, and turning it into an "armed social services agency." Worst of all, Clinton was soft on terrorism and missed a chance to get bin Laden with cruise missiles. Patterson raises important issues, but he seems most often affronted by what he sees as Clinton's belief that he "was privileged to conduct himself at a much lower code of conduct than the men or women he would repeatedly order into harm's way." There's a case to be made for Clinton's laxness on security matters, but Patterson's rendition is too anecdotal and brief, as well as too disgruntled-offended, even-to convince many. 8 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. (March 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895261405
• ISBN-13: 978-0895261403
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (487 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #450,592 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review the reviews, March 26, 2003

By	S. Elwood (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are curious about this book, then do one thing: review all of the following 35 reviews for it. You will quickly notice that the reviews give the book either five stars or one star (there are two with three stars, but they are the exceptions). Those who give the book five stars discuss the content of the book while those who give it one star disparage the author. A few of them also call the book a pack of lies, but don't give examples, except for one. A reader from St. Paul Minnesota said: "Unlike what Mr. Patterson here says, the President doesn't carry around the launch codes. One of his aides does that, in a briefcase. So if the codes were lost, it wasn't President Clinton that lost them. This is just one of the many untruths to be found in this book."

The BBC press on April 26, 1999, published an article entitled "World: Americas Clinton drops nuclear football." It details how President Clinton did in fact leave behind the nuclear football--as well as the aide it was attached to. "A Reader" is clearly not apprised of the facts, and his opinioon may be discounted as uninformed.

Also, reviewer Edwin Carr from Boston on March 21 said: "a distinguished officer like himself, who took the same oath that I did, to protect and serve an American President and maintain his confidences and protect the job and position of the President of the United States, could fail the oath he swore to protect. Buzz should be ashamed that he has betrayed the confidence of all of us who were privileged to serve a President. He betrayed his leader, who he chose to serve. He betrayed his country for divulging secrets he swore to protect."

Mr. Carr should be reminded that the consitutional oath he refers to is an oath to the people of the United States and not to one specific leader. Only leaders like Saddam require an oath to a specific leader, and that it is Clinton who betrayed his country and HIS oath. Patterson is merely giving details.

In conclusion, I would suggest you do yourself a favor: buy this book and use the web to verify the allegations contained in it. You will quickly learn that for what can be verified, the writer is right on the money.

38 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thank the Constitution we have elections every 4 years, April 23, 2003

By	Claymore6 (In the service of our country) - See all my reviews

I admit, I wasn't a big fan of President Clinton during his 8 years in office, but I did generally support him as President and Commander in Chief. After all, we aren't privy to the how and why of Presidential decision making, and surely there are good reasons for every thing he did. Or so I thought.

This book is a true eye-opener. I had heard the anecdotes and allegations, but I dismissed a lot of it as overblown posturing and partisan bickering. After all, I lived in DC, I know how the Beltway Crowd works and thinks.

I am simply appalled at what I read in this book, however. Only the most closed-minded apologist could read this book without at least a twinge of guilt. Truly, the author has no axe to grind, and he certainly had a lot more first-hand contact than I (or anyone else here) has had. I firmly believe that in order to take the true measure of someone, you have to size them up, in person, over an extended period of close contact. The author did that and more. What he recounts is a tale of someone so mendacious, so shallow, and so amazingly self-centered that it's almost surprising that our system of government survived those eight years.

The current President may not be the best of all possible worlds, but he does at least seem to be personally honorable. Whether you agree with his politics or not, that seems to come through to most observers.

The same could not be said of the previous President, sad to say, and this book not only confirms that suspicion, but adds fuel to the fire.

Read this book and make your own decision. I did.

68 of 85 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A searing indictment..., March 21, 2003

By	"jmk444" (Staten Island, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This book is sure to be loudly denounced and vehemently derided, but coming, as it does, from a member of Clinton's own military security detail, it will most likely never be debunked.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson penned "Dereliction of Duty" after his retirement because he would never have been able to publish this kind of information while working for the government.

"Dereliction of Duty" is a gripping, yet horrifying read that'll have you realizing how lucky the U.S. was during the eight year Clinton/Gore Administration. One of the most damning charges is that Clinton once lost the "nuclear football," the suitcase that carries this country's nuclear launch codes. Clinton's response, according to Patterson, was a cavalier, "I'll track'em down guys."

You'll also read about the time in 1998 that Clinton blew off his National Security Advisor so he could finish a round of golf, while stealth-bombers, engines running, their pilots in the cockpits, sat on a Mid-East tarmac until the cover of darkness was lost and a vital mission against Saddam Hussein was called off.

Patterson also gives an entirely new look at the "Black Hawk Down" story, with Clinton denying the troops the weaponry they requested, then sending them into harm's way and ultimately blaming the disaster on his Secretary of Defense.

"Dereliction of Duty" is a searing indictment of the Clinton administration from an insider's view.

This book deserves to be read by every American!