Now that Wesley Clark is in the race, we have to sit down and figure out exactly what happened at the Pristina airport. Needless to say, the mindless Lefties will continue to whine and pule, and the psycho Right will make up whatever line they think will be most damaging...but those among us who can keep our wits about us while talking politics have to try to figure out whether Clark's actions were reasonable or unreasonable. If they were unreasonable this is--for obvious reasons--significant evidence against his fitness to serve as President. If they were reasonable, this is yet more evidence of his fitness to serve, though in that case the evidence will merely cohere with the preponderance of evidence we already have about him, so it will be somewhat less significant. Needless to say, however, we have to approach the question objectively and try to determine the facts of the matter. The widely-available reports are too sketchy to provide sufficient information. I'm reading Waging Modern War right now, so soon enough I'll know Clark's side of the story, though, of course, that is of somewhat limited value.

What we can't do, of course, is simply assume that his actions were reasonable because we are enamored of him. Though neither can we listen to the partisans on the political extremes who have already made up their minds on political grounds. The American Right, as we now know, will say virtually anything to discredit anyone who has the temerity to challenge their birthright to rule. And they'll repeat their anti-nation-building mantra even in the face of their Iraq adventure. And the far Left will gnash their teeth and rend their garments at any use of military force, no matter how humane, even when their position forces them to defend the likes of Slobodan Milosevic. To them I say:

"When, however, someone who delights in annoying and vexing peace loving folk receives at last a right good beating, the beating is certainly a bad thing, but everyone approves of it and considers it good in itself even if nothing further results from it; nay, even he who gets the beating must acknowledge, in his reason, that justice has been done to him, because he sees the connection between well-being and well-doing, which reason inevitably holds before him, here put into practice" (Kant, Critique of Practical Reason)