HILLARY AND FOREIGN POLICY. Michael Crowley's article tracking the roots, evolution, and actual shape of Hillary Clinton's foreign policy views is a very fine piece of work. Particularly interesting is the emphasis placed on Kosovo as a formative experience for Clinton. She was, after all, in the White House during that war, and its stunning success and eventual popularity doubtlessly convinced her that the US military could be quite powerful and precise when properly guided. I believe that she's come to the decision that Bush isn't able to properly guide it. I don't believe she thinks the same about herself. Which is fine! One thing I really appreciate about Clinton is that she's been very honest in her foreign policy views. She won't apologize for her vote on Iraq because she doesn't believe it was a mistake, she won't back down from her previous opinions because she still holds them, she won't pretend to have learned different lessons in the past four years than she actually has. This is how campaigns should be run, and her apparent sincerity on the big issues speaks well of her. I still disagree with her conclusions, but at least they're out there for debate. Almost more interesting than Crowley's article, however, is the compilation of source documents offered along with it. TNR's been offering a few of these amplifying web features lately, wherein a piece is buttressed by a web article linking to the primary documentation used, and they're a very smart, very helpful, very informative accompaniment. And on a slightly different note, the article mentions Sandy Berger's attempt to smuggle national security documents out of the archives a few years ago. Did we ever satisfactorily find out what was going on there? --Ezra Klein
