[Peach]

"No such episode ever occurred -- nor did anything like it," Berger wrote to ABC. "In no instance did President Clinton or I ever fail to support a request from the CIA or U.S. military to authorize an operation against bin Laden or al-Qaida."

Too bad for Clinton that the guy who carried his nuclear football briefcase and others have confirmed that not only did it happen, it happened repeatedly.

[Samwise]

It all depends on what your definition of "ever" is.

[LegendHasIt]

Yes! I was just looking for my copy of Col. Buzz Patterson's
Dereliction of Duty
to quote "Chapter and Verse" on that when your post came up..... Unfortunately I don't have it handy.

Later, I'll try to find it and give the quotes and references on that.

[TomGuy]

"No such episode ever occurred -- nor did anything like it," Berger wrote to ABC. "In no instance did President Clinton or I ever fail to support a request from the CIA or U.S. military to authorize an operation against bin Laden or al-Qaida."

Too bad for Clinton that the guy who carried his nuclear football briefcase and others have confirmed that not only did it happen, it happened repeatedly.

Cyrus Nowrasteh said in that audio interview (post #9) that they reworked numerous (over a dozen) such occurrences into one representative scene, because they didn't have time to show the repeats of essentially the same inactions by the Clinton administration.

Also, Newsmax has that tape of ole Bill Clinton, himself, admitting he failed to take custody of bin Laden from the Sudan government.

Clintonites are in full spin again -- trying to rewrite history into their a$$-covering version.

[cricket]

Too bad for Clinton that the guy who carried his nuclear football briefcase and others have confirmed that not only did it happen, it happened repeatedly.

Yes, and it is too bad the truth of all this had not been repeated more often. . . Repubs would be in less jeopardy today; as well as those who share the rest of our Country. . .

[PogySailor]

"No such episode ever occurred -- nor did anything like it," Berger wrote to ABC. "In no instance did President Clinton or I ever fail to support a request from the CIA or U.S. military to authorize an operation against bin Laden or al-Qaida."

From the 9/11 Report . Chapter 4, Page 7:

On May 20, Director Tenet discussed the high risk of the operation with Berger and his deputies, warning that people might be killed, including Bin Ladin. Success was to be defined as the exfiltration of Bin Ladin out of Afghanistan.28 A meeting of principals was scheduled for May 29 to decide whether the operation should go ahead. The principals did not meet. On May 29, “Jeff ” informed “Mike” that he had just met with Tenet, Pavitt, and the chief of the Directorate’s Near Eastern Division.The decision was made not to go ahead with the operation.“Mike” cabled the field that he had been directed to “stand down on the operation for the time being.”He had been told, he wrote, that cabinet-level officials thought the risk of civilian casualties—“collateral damage”—was too high.They were concerned about the tribals’ safety, and had worried that “the purpose and nature of the operation would be subject to unavoidable misinterpretation and misrepresentation—and probably recriminations—in the event that Bin Ladin, despite our best intentions and efforts, did not survive.”

Impressions vary as to who actually decided not to proceed with the operation. Clarke told us that the CSG saw the plan as flawed.He was said to have described it to a colleague on the NSC staff as “half-assed” and predicted that the principals would not approve it. “Jeff ” thought the decision had been made at the cabinet level. Pavitt thought that it was Berger’s doing, though perhaps on Tenet’s advice.Tenet told us that given the recommendation of his chief operations officers, he alone had decided to “turn off ” the operation. He had simply informed Berger, who had not pushed back. Berger’s recollection was similar. He said the plan was never presented to the White House for a decision.30

[sauropod]

Do you have an authoritative source for this? Preferably with link?

I don't trust Kean.