During yesterday’s Democratic presidential debate (unlike her trip to Bosnia), Hillary Clinton came under fire. The moderators scrutinized her foggy memory regarding the now infamous Balkans blunder. In response, she admitted she made a mistake and said her statement “didn’t jive” with what she “knew to be the truth.”

Clinton is not alone when it comes to seeking the public’s pardon. Last month, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer apologized for his involvement in an embarrassing, expensive sex scandal. Just west of New York City in New Jersey, that state’s former governor, Jim McGreevey, gave a similar speech four years ago.

Such speeches aren’t limited to politics. New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte recently apologized incessantly for using human growth hormone (HGH). Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pled guilty to felony dog fighting charges this summer and quickly asked for forgiveness. And just this week, Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony said he was “truly sorry” after being arrested for a DUI.

These situations, especially the one including Pettitte who is a professing Christian, bring up an interesting question: When public figures say they are sorry, do we forgive them?

Most people automatically answer “yes.” Jesus taught we should always be willing to forgive, even those who continually wrong us. Answering the question of how much, he said “seventy-seven times.”

But for others, forgiveness fades and hostilities rise when Hillary discusses Iraq, when sports stars abuse their status, or when governors spend $15,000 on prostitutes. In a recent blog post on nationalreview.com, Jack Dunphy said he would rather “leave the forgiving to others.” His stance is more popular.

Cal Thomas counters that forgiveness may be our most powerful tool:

[Forgiveness] is a concept virtually unknown in our take-no-prisoners culture. So much rhetoric today is angry and judgmental and condemning. So much is about defeating the other person, taking revenge and demanding entitlements. … [T]he power of forgiveness—especially when forgiveness is not asked for—has a power that no one else can touch.

WORLD Editor Mindy Belz, who was four months pregnant at the time, visited Bosnia’s Tuzla Air Base just two weeks before Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s alleged duck-and-cover adventure in March 1996. In her WORLD Web Extra report, Belz writes:

Daily shelling and sniper attacks by Serb and Croat militias were a regular feature in Tuzla—until December 1995. They stopped almost overnight when Bosnian, Serb, and Croat leaders signed the Dayton Peace Accords in Paris on Dec. 14. After nearly a month of negotiations with the leaders in Ohio, the Clinton administration had reason to tout this as a signature accomplishment. When Hillary Clinton claimed her delegation came under attack three months later, she not only was stretching her own credibility but undermining one of few bright moments in her husband’s legacy.

Read her complete report here.

Anxious to quash claims of boosterism for either candidate, the media’s line of sight shifted back to Hillary Clinton after the senator was cornered yesterday telling a tall tale about her post-war trip to Bosnia in 1996 as first lady. Already among even Democratic Party faithfuls, the fib has begun to chink her hard-fought foreign policy credentials.

A CBS News clip from 1996, now omnipresent on the Blogosphere, stands in marked contrast to the way Clinton has remembered that trip lately. The newsreel shows her chatting with fatigued soldiers and calmly walking with daughter Chelsea off the tarmac, yet Clinton seems to recall how she “land[ed] under sniper fire. . . . There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

Clinton has tried to duck out of the contretemps by saying she misspoke. But whether she misspoke, misremembered or misled, the blow to her credibility has not been inconsiderable. Some are saying this, in concert with the media’s Jeremiah Wright monomania, is a significant boon to John McCain.

Clinton’s critics, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that, on the stump and in campaign ads, she’s repeatedly suggested her “35 years of experience” as a public servant are well trod with examples of crackerjack diplomacy and international leadership, many during her eight years as first lady. As a result, the veracity of several of Clinton’s other foreign policy salvos has now been questioned, notably her contention that she was “instrumental” in brokering peace in Northern Ireland despite having never attended policy meetings in the province.

The anticipated release last week of 11,000 pages of Clinton’s archived schedules was supposed to be a sort of final word in these matters. At first glance, they appeared to reveal, as a Newsweek story by Michael Isikoff put it, “absolutely nothing.” Citing national security concerns and third party privacy, the National Archives redacted substantial portions.

Still, there was enough to rebuff parts of Clinton’s Bosnia and Northern Ireland stories. As this Daily Telegraph story reported, Clinton’s “boasts that she gained major foreign policy experience as first lady have been undermined after . . . her White House schedules provided scant evidence to back up her claims.” In the case of her trip to Bosnia, the schedule’s entry is straightforward: “Ambassador Menzies intros HRC to greeters; 8-year-old Bosnian Girl Reads Poem to HRC; HRC greets 7th grade class”—all over an elapsed timeframe of 20 minutes.

National Review editor Rich Lowry writes that her story “looks like a blatant lie.” Pointing to the fact that she looked carefree, not harried, and wasn’t even wearing body armor, he says he isn’t buying that her memory played tricks on her: “[F]rom my experience in Iraq I know that if you’re not used to being in a hazardous environment and anything happens where you’re told to duck and cover or run or anything like that, you remember it.” He goes on: “In this case, Hillary’s interest—in pumping up her foreign policy credentials—happens to coincide exactly with her supposedly faulty memory, which is a good indicator that a politician is lying.”

Actor and entertainer Sinbad, who traveled with Clinton to Bosnia to perform for the American troops there, told The New York Times that the “scariest part of the trip . . . was wondering where the next meal would come from.”

Editor’s Note: Read WORLD Editor Mindy Belz’s account of her visit to Bosnia just two weeks before Hillary Clinton’s alleged duck-and-cover adventure.