A useful round-up from the AP. Money quote:
Clark also was cautious about plunging into battle after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when many Americans were out for vengeance. Three days after the attacks, he counseled this response: “It’s fundamentally a police effort against individuals. It’s not a military effort directed against factories and airfields. You may still need to use military force, but you have to use it in a very precise way.” It became a huge military effort to uproot the government of Afghanistan and the terrorist network it harbored. Clark seemed to swing behind the strategy once it was set, and he voiced confidence in the outcome.
It seems to me that this gets to a very important issue in the debate. Is our fight against terrorism a “police operation” or a war? Clark wants the former, although he waxed lyrical about the conduct of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq at the time. Now, of course, he is full of criticism. If Clark’s candidacy can help us focus on this critical question – policing or war – then it will be a good thing.
The Dish 