Clinton can attribute it to anything he wants. The real reason is that we don't mess around.
"The real reason is that we don't mess around"
You hit it. After eight years of clinton's messing around and depleting our military the US no longer carried much diplomatic clout.
Now that President Bush has established that "We don't mess around" we will see much more willingness on the part of other countries to actually seek out diplomatic solutions (as we have seen with Libya).
I see clinton's statement as an attempt on his part to weaken President Bush's diplomatic efforts. He is telling the world that our military is now depleted, and by implication they no longer have to take us serious.