Why did Bill Clinton downsize the military?

Question

Was there a specific reason why he did it?

Answer 1

Well actually Cordellia....if u had your facts straight, H.W. continued to strenghten our military because of the escalating situation with Iraq and Saddam Hussein. See, we knew long before 9/11 there was going to be an attack on American soil, but dumbass Clinton ingnored it. Instead of acting like a man, he downsize our military and ignored middle eastern tensions so he could get his d**k sucked in the oval office (hmmmmm.....great president!). Have YOU ever heard of a "snowball effect"? What one president does effects those to come for decades. By ignoring Hussein and downsizing the military, you now have 9/11 and the Afghanistan/Iraq wars, which by the way, everyone complains about......well, maybe if we had adequate funding and troops in our military, we wouldn't have this problem. SO, with that being said, all you who think Bush sucks and got us into this mess, well actually, it was the "beloved" democratic congress who got us into this war....so just remember that!

Answer 2

Yes there was.  

Are you going to ask why George Bush (Sr) downsized the military?  (He did but somehow a lot of people have forgotten that).  

Google VSI/SSB.  Worst thing they ever did in the AF, I don't know what they called those programs in the other branches, and I'm not sure if they were as extreme.  

Answer 3

Clinton hated the military.

The cold war was not over, he just hated the military.

He is an idiot.

Answer 4

The Cold War was over and there was no assessed need for a large military.

Answer 5

what was worse was the decision to not allow the CIA and FBI to share information with each other.  As the 911 Commision determined, that was one of the most major reasons for 911.

Answer 6

It was a political decision to end a political war. The Cold War was over and how could he justify the tax payers burden on a war that ended. Billions of dollars where spent to maintain a defense against a foe that didn't exist anymore. It started with Reagan. "TEAR DOWN THAT WALL"

Answer 7

He had no ability to see the future. He thought that the military was just for show. He was very anti-military. His downsizing of the military has caused us many problems the last eight years. He is one of those pansies who says that if the US has a strong military it will make others feel intimidated and provoke them.

Answer 8

hmmm...I wonder why the GOP controlled Congress did nothing to stop it.

Answer 9

to save us money and pay down debt if you or I ran our checkbooks the way Washington runs its budget we would be in jail for bad checks  

Answer 10

stupidity.

Answer 11

Because that's what Democrats do, he thought he was saving the US money but in the long run it cost the US. If the military had not been weakened by his stupidity we might not have been attacked here or else where.

Vet-USAF

Answer 12

Idiocy maybe  

Answer 13

so he could pay monica

Answer 14

Peace is the ultimate goal of the world.

Answer 15

He didn't. Because the Soviet Union had disappeared on December 24, 1991, the Congress and the Base Committee on Realignment and Closures (BRAC) began the process of reduction of manpower and reduction and closure of bases. Despite whatever conditioning as a people we have been subjected to since the Spring of 1933, the President is not a Federal Wizard King. His duties are set forth in Article Two of the Constitution.  

Answer 16

He thought the cold war was over and he had saved the world and brought in peace. He must have had his head up somewhere dark because he totally dropped the ball on that whole Muslim Extremist, Bin Laden thing. I mean he was only out of office a very short time when that happend. Not all of that can be laid on GW's shoulders. Clinton cut the military funding so we were vulnerable and extremists attacked when we might have stopped them with more funing before the event even happened and then the cowboy in the White House right now used that to go to war.

I would love to have a truthful politician who cared about the people rather feeding his own ego and thirst for power. You can't trust any of them.

Answer 17

someone already said this.. but it was because the cold war was over.. new treaties also made some reductions ie number of ballistic missiles..

this resulted in more sailors than ships ratings were over manned.. promotions were screwed.. so they did a voluntary drawdown.. even let some people retire as early as 15 years with full benefits minus a 1% penalty in pay per year.. in addition to the lost time in service pay raises.

the reduction was targeted at over manned ratings and did not effect the mission.

i have to add.. to try to politicize the draw down is retarded.. regen himself would have done it.. the war was over.

you wanna slam clinton for nafta.. or selling c**p to the chinese that they could use to nuke us ok..

but calling him on the drawdown is wrong and it makes you look like an idiot to anyone who lived thru those times.

also .. for the delusional post above me..

the us military was never intended to launch full scale offensive first strike invasions of other countrys.. that one is all bushs' idea.    So you cant blame clinton for the failure in iraq and afganistan either..