Of Arms and the Man

Of Arms and the Man

If William Shakespeare were still with us, he would have found his Othello. David Petraeus is not the darkly handsome Moor of the Bard's tale, but a pallor, highly-decorated officer, a nerdy-looking guy with a comb-over. However, like the Moor, he fuses monumental courage with human frailty. Public stature often stands on clay feet. It's the rest of us who put the marble sculpture of celebrity on its pedestal.

In spite of all the splendid attributes of competence, dignity and self-respect that accompanied the honorable and valiant Othello in his military career, he was merely mortal, an easy victim of...