Republican Myth Talking Point #348: Clinton gutted the defense department during his two terms?

REPUBLICAN MYTH 671

DEMS ARE WEAK ON TERROR

Let's look at facts...

Clinton Administration developed the nation's first anti-terrorism policy, and appointed first national coordinator of anti-terrorist efforts.

Clinton Administration stopped the Al Qaeda millennium hijacking and bombing plots.

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to kill the Pope

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up 12 U.S. jetliners simultaneously

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up UN Headquarters

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up FBI Headquarters

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Washington

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up Boston airport

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up Lincoln and Holland Tunnels in NY

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the George Washington Bridge

Clinton Administration stopped the planned attack to blow up the US Embassy in Albania

-- Tried to kill Osama bin Laden and disrupt Al Qaeda through preemptive strikes (efforts denounced by the G.O.P.).

-- Brought perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing and CIA killings to justice.

-- Did not blame Bush I administration for first World Trade Center bombing even though it occurred 38 days after Bush left office. Instead, worked hard, even obsessively -- and successfully -- to stop future terrorist attacks.

--Named the Hart-Rudman commission to report on nature of terrorist threats and major steps to be taken to combat terrorism.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to TIGHTEN AIRPORT SECURITY. (Remember, this is before 911) The legislation was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the airlines.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF TERRORIST FUNDING. It was defeated by Republicans in the Senate because of opposition from banking interests.

-Clinton Administration sent legislation to Congress to add tagents to explosives, to allow for BETTER TRACKING OF EXPLOSIVES USED BY TERRORISTS. It was defeated by the Republicans because of opposition from the NRA.

-Clinton Administration increased the military budget by an average of 14 per cent, reversing the trend under Bush I.

-Clinton Administration tripled the budget of the FBI for counterterrorism and doubled overall funding for counterterrorism

-Clinton Administration detected and destroyed cells of Al Qaeda in over 20 countries

-Clinton Administration created national stockpile of drugs and vaccines including 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine.

-Of Clinton Administration's efforts says Robert Oakley, Reagan Ambassador for Counterterrorism: "Overall, I give them very high marks" and "The only major criticism I have is the obsession with Osama"

-Paul Bremer, current Civilian Administrator of Iraq disagrees slightly with Robert Oakley as he believed the Clinton Administration had "correctly focused on bin Laden.

-Barton Gellman in the Washington Post put it best, "By any measure available, Clinton Administration left office having given greater priority to terrorism than any president before him" and was the "first administration to undertake a systematic anti-terrorist effort"

Your right on the military cuts. Bush's plan was to reduce our "Cold War" numbers. While the blueprint was in to create medium and light rapid deployment units, it was set in motion a little too late as President Bush left office before the process could begin.

In comes Clinton. The Clinton administration took a 375 thousand troop reduction and took it to more than one million. He effectively raped our services, reduced numbers, closed based, etc. The Navy had ships pulling out of port short 400 Sailors or more. If reducing our numbers this way wasn't enough, he proceeded to deploy our troops to more locations than any other President in History.

Yes, he decimated the Military. The proof is in the Bills passed, Budgets approved and the Executive orders signed. All of which can be found in the congressional archives.

Look them up. If you don't want to, then it pretty much shows you are too lazy to learn facts and would rather take the word of a website that calls itself "Fatcheck".

I was in the service for Clintons term and yes he did cut the military and yes it did start under Bush #41, he still continued it on a large scale. We got some of the smallest raises around during that time period as well

Yes, after the Soviet Union fell, our govt reduced military expenditures, which was the right thing to do. But they cut the army forces too much, and they cut the number of our spies way to low. You can't replace all our spies with bugs, satellites, and spy planes, you need some humans on the ground. Both parties bear responsibility for our lack of preparedness for the 9/11 attacks.

CLINTON'S "NO WIN" DEFENSE BUDGET:

"The Clinton Administration has presented its defense budget request for fiscal years 1998 through 2002. While the amount requested for defense is $19 billion higher in budget authority than sought last year, it is still inadequate to fund the current defense policy, which was established after the Pentagon's now-discredited 1993 Bottom-Up Review. President Clinton's new budget falls about $105 billion short of fully funding the forces that this Administration's review identified as necessary to defend American security and freedom.

This refusal to pay for the defenses which the President says the nation needs will produce unacceptable choices for the nation's security. The only way that Clinton's five-year defense budget can fund forces of the size necessary to meet U.S. security commitments abroad is for the Administration to make cuts in combat readiness and modernization of weapons and equipment."

http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/...

Actually Reagan sold off all the state military weapons.

In the late 70's, the NY State Armories had tanks. During the 80's they all disappeared. Then near the end of Reagan's two terms, there was the Ollie North thing. They sold off state militia equipment to Iraq, now we are there fighting against weapons that were once safe in America's back yard.

Now their newest thing is subbing out the Army Mess Hall to the vice president.

You tell me who keeps weakening our military.

Republicans with brains got off of this horse YEARS ago. Welcome back to the future McFly! Stop dwelling in the 90s and catch up to a modern discussion! Unless you partied too much on the roof of the White House with Willy Nelson to remember that it's 2007 now! Lol. I'm a Republican and I think all politicians are full of it. Talking points don't merit my time, and probably not yours either!

so this argument is that the military was cut 15% under reagan and bush and clinton ONLY cut it 13% more? you know the phrase point of diminishing returns? after the fall of the soviet union it was time to cut back the massive spending and growth used to spend Russia out of the race that doesnt mean we could just keep cutting and cutting.

You are correct.

I would argue that both presidents set the defense department back several years in research, not just one.

Also, how much classified information has been and is continuing to be stolen? This issue is ignored by both political parties.

Budget,smudget,Clinton cut the number of people,regular and reserve 25%.

You've brought spin to an entirely new level. Tens of thousands of career military people sure were fooled during the Clinton years. They never realised what a pro-military president he was.