Rumsfeld Slams Clinton Military Cutbacks

Newsmax ^ | Sunday Jan. 20, 2002; 1:10 p.m. EST | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[cody32127]

While noting that U.S. armed forces remain the most powerful in the world, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld blasted the Clinton administration Sunday for defense cutbacks he said left the military in such a "run down" condition that rebuilding could take up to a decade.

"The infrastructure had decayed and it is still decayed and it will take now probably six, eight, ten years to get it back to the place that it ought to be," Rumsfeld told NBC "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.

The Bush Defense Secretary then added, "It takes time to run down a great military and it takes time to build one back up."

He suggested that the full dimension of the Clinton cutbacks were only now being felt. "During a president's term of office, what he does with the military has very little effect during that period of time. Each president inherits what was done in preceding periods."

Rumsfeld was responding to Democratic Party and media arguments that the U.S.'s success in the Afghanistan war shows that criticism of Clinton's military cutbacks is unjustified.

Separately, the New York Post reported Sunday that a full 89 percent of Clinton budget cuts under the president's "Reinventing Government" initiative came at the expense of the armed forces.

In his recent book "In the Arena," former Reagan administration Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger contends that President Clinton had reduced U.S. military forces by approximately 50 percent during his eight years in office.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

HOOOOOOORAY!!!!!!! Finally! Someone - a very important someone - speaks the truth! Give em hell, Rummy!!!!

[cva66snipe]

He wasn't bad in character but military wise he was close to the GOP's Jimmy Carter. We lost many ships and bases under him some were criticals. But like I said I blame congress as much or more as anybody the sitting congress between 1989 - 2002. They are the ones who approved the cuts. POTUS has no powers above what is stated in the Constitution and the military is funded by the Leglislative Branch. Therefore they must bare much of the actual blame and I mean both parties of both houses. John Warner was sleeping at the chair while our military was gutted.