Scumbria, when Clinton took office, he inherited the finest military machine ever assembled. It was modern, well trained, and spirits were high.
Over his two terms in office, Clinton slashed resources, reduced forces, and dramatically increased operations. Between 1992 and 2000, he cut national defense by more than half a million troops and $50 billion, while the pace of military deployments increased dramatically to such places as Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia and Iraq.
The result: worn-out troops, low morale and aging equipment. Accidents haven't all of a sudden spiked because Bush came into office. Accidents have been happening for years, mainly due to Clinton's lack of leadership as Commander in Chief, and his inability to strategically manage our nations most critical asset.
Since the Reagan peak of 1985, funding for the military has fallen from $390 billion to $270 billion. Contrary to other programs in the budget in which we called it a cut, when in actuality it was simply lowered future projected spending increases, the military did cut spending anyway you measure it.
When Clinton came into office, the United States was spending 4.4 percent of GDP on defense; last year, it dropped to 2.9 percent. With the exception of 1948, the United States spent over this amount on national security every year between 1941 and 1995. As the U.S. economy grew throughout the 1990s, defense budgets shrank under Clinton's stewardship.
It will take years for Bush to repair the damage Clinton has done to our armed forces. Morale is already starting to improve. However, replacing aging equipment, facilities and machinery is going to take much longer. |
