Eight years of the military being decimated at the hands of Clinton/Gore had little to do with it.
The people of this nation and we conservatives scream about the 'deficit' with LITTLE knowledge of what it would cost to rebuild, update existing equipment AND start manufacturing NEW equipment....WHILE trying to expand the ALL VOLUNTEER force and trying to recover economically from a recession and 911 and then prosecute WAR on TWO FRONTS and rebuild and democratize a nation that doesn't have the foggiest idea of what democracy is!!
It is just easier to BLAME BUSH and his SECDEF for NOT doing something while what they are doing is never quite good enough and always WRONG!!
Bush is leaving office on January 20, 2009. I started this thread to discuss lessons learned in Iraq and how we go about winning the War on Terrorism.
Here is the transcript from a 2002 broadcast that Vice President Cheney did with "Meet the Press": click here. Go back and read it. What you'll find is that Cheney said was that Bush was staking his presidency on Iraq! What also leaps out at you is the following:
MR. RUSSERT: The army’s top general said that we would have to have several hundred thousand troops there for several years in order to maintain stability.
VICE PRES. CHENEY: I disagree. To suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don’t think is accurate. I think that’s an overstatement...
Now, of course, the backtracking begins as nearly everyone in the administration agrees that there was a massive underestimate of the numbers needed and that the generals (who know about how war is fought) were correct. So, if Bush and Cheney, are men of their words then the presidency was staked on achieving success--something we haven't yet seen nor, IMHO, will see unless the boots on the ground grow substantially!
Bush and Rumsfeld made a conscious decision NOT to expand the military. The USAF is looking to cut 40-60,000, and the Army has only recently been allowed to ask for more men.
GWB & Rumsfeld are responsible for the state of our affairs. 2006 is too late for blaming clintoon.