Book excerpt: A popular yet polarizing force long after leaving office, Bill Clinton is still criticized by right-wingers as a president who was weak in his foreign policy. Veteran reporter Richard Sale takes us beneath partisan rhetoric and documents the learning curve of our nation’s 42nd President, showing his evolution as a strong leader on the world stage. Using confidential sources in the administration itself, Sale reports on Clinton’s covert ops in such arenas as the Balkans and Middle East, revealing a leader who spearheaded the fight against Slobodan Milosevic, bombed Saddam Hussein, targeted Osama bin Laden, and prevented al-Qaeda from establishing a stronghold in the incendiary Balkans region. Ultimately, and revealingly, Clinton emerges at the end of his term in office as a tough-as-nails commander in chief in the same vein as Ronald Reagan. This “fly on the wall” look at a generation-defining leader provides an invaluable window into the presidency of Bill Clinton in the world arena.