Gung-ho Hillary

By Joseph Farah

Hillary Clinton told the Council on Foreign Relations it’s time to bring more U.S. troops and military power into Iraq.

Somebody should ask her why she and her co-president husband decimated the U.S. military during their eight years in the White House.

The Clintons like to boast about cutting government spending during their term in office. They like to suggest they “paid for” new social spending programs with other cuts in the budget. To some extent, that is true.

But the only place the Clintons cut the budget was in defense. They made dramatic and dangerous cuts in U.S. military capability and preparedness. Worst of all, Clinton’s ax was wielded more recklessly than his predecessors, who were also responsible for downsizing the military.

Consider a few facts: The defense budget was cut, in real terms, for the last 16 consecutive years. During the Eisenhower administration, the U.S. spent 16 percent of its gross domestic product on defense. When the Clintons left the White House, we spent 3 percent. Back in the Eisenhower days, the defense budget accounted for 62 percent of federal spending. When the Clintons left office, it was down below 15 percent.

From 1990 to 1998, active Army ranks were reduced from 770,000 to 495,000. When Clinton was through with his cuts, the Army had 10 active combat divisions compared to the 18 it had at the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. And there was some question about the readiness of those 10 divisions. What was cut?

  • 293,000 reservists;

  • two reserve divisions;

  • 20 Air Force and Navy air wings along with approximately 2,000 combat aircraft;

  • 232 strategic bombers;

  • 13 ballistic-missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles;

  • 500 ICBMs;

  • four aircraft carriers;

  • 121 surface-combat vessels and attack submarines, plus all the support basing, transport and logistic access, tanks, armored fighting vehicles, helicopters, etc.

Four of the 10 remaining divisions – the 82nd Airborne, the 101st Air Assault, the 3rd Infantry and the 1st Cavalry – were considered contingency divisions and would be the first to deploy in the event of a major conflict. The 2nd Infantry Division was already deployed in Korea.

The remaining five divisions were expected to deploy in the event of a second front, or nearly simultaneous major-theater contingency, or as reinforcements for a wider war. All five had significant personnel shortfalls. Captains, majors and NCOs were in particularly short supply.

Despite the dwindling manpower and resources, during the Clinton administration, U.S. military forces were asked to perform many more missions than in the past – most of them under the auspices of the United Nations and NATO. During 1997 alone, for instance, the 1st Armored Division was directed 89 times to provide personnel for “peacekeeping” operations. The average soldier involved in such operations was deployed for 254 days out of the year.

The U.S. had been slashing the military budget every year since the Cold War ended with the idea that the major threat to American security had been eradicated. What most officials have missed was the fact that new and different threats had emerged – China, radical Islam, rogue terror states, new nuclear threats.

Is it necessary to point out the tragic irony that the same administration responsible for this unilateral disarmament of the United States is responsible for helping Beijing modernize its military communications and nuclear targeting of American cities with illicit transfers of sensitive technology?

Potential adversaries recognized the fact that in cutting military capability so radically, America had provided them with new opportunities, new hope of defeating us in a future war.

President Ronald Reagan preached “peace through strength.” And it worked. President Clinton, who once admitted he loathed the military, not only took a wrecking ball to the finest armed forces in the world, he demoralized them with politically correct social experimentation and hopeless global “peace” crusades.

And now Hillary wants to send more troops to Iraq.

Joseph Farah

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and chief executive officer of WND. He is the author or co-author of 13 books that have sold more than 5 million copies, including his latest, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament." Before launching WND as the first independent online news outlet in 1997, he served as editor in chief of major market dailies including the legendary Sacramento Union. Read more of Joseph Farah's articles here.