A declassified email sent to CIA Islamabad station chief Gary Schroen from the head of the CIA’s Bin Ladin unit Michael Scheuer was dated December 21, 1998. It was a response to Schroen’s email the day before, which reflected on the fact that strikes against Usama Bin Ladin (UBL) were not carried out. It read: “i’m sure we’ll regret not acting last night. this is the third time you and your officers have put ubl in this gov’t’s sights and they have balked each time at doing the job. how many times can we/they expect to get a shot? there is at times such a sense of unreality in these out-of-langley [CIA headquarters] deliberations that it is hard to assimilate exactly how things work. they spent a good deal of time yesterday, for example, worrying that some stray shrapnel might hit the habash mosque and ‘offend’ Muslims–seeming to forget the four days the [sic] just spend bombarding what bin ladin calls the ‘muslim iraqi people.’ the policymakers also seem obsessed with having others–[redacted] saudis, paks, etc.–do what we won’t do.”
– CIA, “Your Note,” Note For: [Excised], From: Michael F. Scheuer, Central Intelligence Agency Email. Cited in 9/11 Commission Report as “Mike to [Gary] Schroen,” The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, Dec. 21, 1998