Clinton and US military

[phusion]

My RW coworker claims that Clinton destroyed the military by underfunding it throughout the 90s. He says much of the money we have spent on Iraq has gone to rebuilding ground forces -- i.e., weapons, vehicles, etc.

I tried to tell him that after the cold war, we did not have a significant military threat and these cutbacks were justified.

Of course, he believes Bush was justified in invading Iraq. Koolaid gulper.

I can't reason with him...But do you think Clinton made large military cutbacks?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney made massive cuts....

in 1991-1992!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. and the Gingrich lead congress continued right along to 2000

they cut arms and bases and everything they could.

[InternalDialogue]

2. Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars..." deals with this

I don't have the book with me (loaned it) but he addresses that specific issue of military funding.

When I cited his information to family Repugs, they didn't jump ship, but they clammed up.

[scrupulous1]

3. Military Cutbacks

Yes Clinton did,and rightly so. We need to dismantle our military all together. And then freedom fighters around the globe will truly be free. Until then we will have no peace on this earth.:mad:

[phusion]

5. I agree. n/t

[Bridget Burke]

Gosh, you certainly are Liberal.

Unbelievably so, in fact.

[lancdem]

4. Didn't the Repukes control Congree

for most of Clinton's tenure? So they just let Clinton "gut" the military? After all, they hold the purse strings. Ask your friend about Congress' culpability. BTW, after cuts in his first term, Clinton increased military spending. I don't have links handy.

[tinymontgomery]

6. Ask him why the Navy is still cutting

if Clinton's cuts were so bad how come the Navy is still down sizing. They are cutting 60,000 sailors by 2010 and not building ships due to the lack of money.

http://nationaldefense.ndia.org/issues/2004/Mar/Navy_Downsizing.htm
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-NAVYPAPER-313268.php

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I distinctly remember one year Clinton requested a military

budget of a couple hundred million more than the Pentagon requested, because he wanted to upgrade servicemen's wages. This was after the dems lost congress in '94.

[JoshK]

9. You guys are dreaming. Clinton made no significant cuts at all,

except for an itsy-bitsy 1-2% or so on one of his 8 budgets. Basically, he kept military spending at the same level as Daddy Bush -- despite the vanishing of the USSR!

Neither party makes "massive cuts" in defense spending -- it's politically impossible to do so. Both parties are owned, lock stock and barrel, by the MIC.

[incapsulated]

10. It was BUSH/CHENEY who cut the military budget!

God, what bullshit. Same lies they told during the Gore campaign:

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2000 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The shrinking of America's military, now decried by George W. Bush as one of the Clinton administration's biggest sins, was pushed by his running mate Dick Cheney as defense secretary for Bush's father a decade ago.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall - and with a Congress hungry for a "peace dividend" - Cheney in 1990 proposed a gradual 25 percent reduction in the military. He called for withdrawing tens of thousands of troops from Europe, canceling weapons programs and removing 442,000 men and women from the military over five years.

When Bush criticized the Clinton-Gore administration this week for creating "a military in decline," Vice President Al Gore pointed a finger at the cuts initiated by the Bush White House. "I'm proud we finally reversed the defense cuts begun in the previous administration," Gore said, asserting that the military is "the strongest and the best in the world."

<snip>

Former Clinton Defense Secretary William Perry, speaking on behalf of the Gore campaign, said that blaming Clinton for cutting the military leaves out a big piece of the story.

"In fact two-thirds of the reductions in the military have been made by" the previous administration. "I think people might be suffering from a case of amnesia."

http://www.evote.com/News/EV08232000J.html

[Redleg]

11. Ask your co-worker why Rummy wanted to cut 2 more army divisions

before 9-11-2001?