Bush's Military In Iraq??

[stunted evolution]

I have heard alot of Republicans blaming Clinton for nearly destroying the military. Maybe my thinking is flawed, but that argument seems fundamentally illogical to me.

While Bush DID increase military spending, the additional funds would not have been immediately available, and in any case, the military would not have had time to use the funds to develop new military technologies, train the troops to use them and implement them into battle scenarios before Iraq.

Doesn't that mean that the invasion of Iraq, which Republicans were patting each other on the back for, was really carried out with Clinton's military? At the very least the smart weaponry which they credit for the swift execution of the campaign would clearly be a credit to Clinton due to the sheer numbers of them we had ready to deploy. my thinking is that Clinton was trying to make a smarter Army by reducing the number of troops in favor of smarter weaponry to reduce human casualties. Am I fishing?

I'm beginning to understand the Republican agenda. If it stinks, pass the blame. If it's a good thing take credit for it, even if you aren't responsible, and change the subject before someone can figure out you're full of sh*t.

Any thoughts???

[hadrons]

1. Big Time says it best:

"A commander in chief leads the military built by those who came before him. That is why we were able to win the Gulf War - because we were commanding a military rebuilt in the 1980s."- Dick B. Cheney, August 30, 2000 (Speech to Southern Center on International Studies)

He also said:

“I think it is vitally important for a President to know when to use military force. I think it is also very important for him to know when not to commit U.S. military force. . . . it would have been a mistake for us to get bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq.”-Dick Cheney (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/pubs/soref/cheney.htm)

[FloridaPat]

2. Someone did make a comment to the Bush people that

Clinton's military did a good job in the invasion. The response was "* you". Yes you are right, this was the military Clinton left.

[bfusco]

3. yes

Yes, the inital "succesful" military operations in Iraq and Afghanastan was due to technoligies developed during the Clinton administration. Of course the Republicans will not give credit for this and you are right. Everything good in the country is due to the Republicans and everything bad is do to Clinton. This is nothing new. I remember in the 80's the Republicans always credited Ronald with everything that went well in the country and Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Congress was to blame for every problem.