There is a lot of debate over President Clinton’s handling of our military.. Sure, he bungled that thing in Somalia, but he was new at his job, and you have to allow room for an occasional mistake here and there, even if it did cost some troops their lives, and when we had to back down, it probably emboldened terrorists who had previously been intimidated by the strength of our military.. Worst of all, it didn’t provide Clinton with the opportunity to land on an aircraft carrier and proclaim “Mission Accomplished”.. In Sean Hannity’s book, “Let Freedom Ring,” he claimed that Clinton “loathed” our military.. He provides a chart comparing new military equipment ordered under the Clinton Administration to that of the Reagan Administration, and the results were staggering.. Of course, Al Franken refuted the notion that Clinton “loathed” our military in his book, “Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” by pointing out that Reagan was fighting a Cold War (that inadvertently, was won not because of any tank purchased under Reagan, but rather the tank of the Soviet Union’s economy,) and then he compared George W. Bush’s receipts with Clinton’s, and they were somewhat similar, thereby discrediting Sean Hannity’s chart.. Touché.. After America was attacked on 9/11, President Bush launched a swift and victorious military operation in Afghanistan.. But it wasn’t President Bush who should be getting the credit for this.. I mean, first of all, let me just say that it was a shame that the attack couldn’t have happened during Bill Clinton’s Presidency, because it would have provided him the chance to show those mischievous Republicans what a magnificent leader he actually was.. But even beyond that, according to Michael O’Hanlon of the New York Times, it was actually Clinton’s military that President Bush used to wage such a successful war.. Well, not exactly, Michael.. Let’s see if we can look a little deeper than just, “Who was President of the United States directly preceding President George W. Bush..?” Bill Clinton made massive cuts in our defense spending to help balance the federal budget, and were it not for Congress insisting that we increase funding for the Pentagon, he probably would have cut even more.. Democrats like to brag about how well off financially we all were under the Clinton Administration, but many of those serving in our military were forced to rely on food stamps to feed their families.. I guess their money is coming from the government either way, so it probably doesn’t make that much of a difference to you or I, but apparently it did to them… because under Clinton, high ranking military officials with essential roles, who were already in short supply, were leaving the military and signing up to be well paid military analysts in the highly competitive cable news industry.. In his brief months in office, President Bush only ordered about as much new military equipment as Clinton, (thanks for that fact, Mr. Franken) but he made sure that old equipment that had been neglected under the Clinton Administration was repaired.. He also arranged for badly needed pay raises for our soldiers.. When the President sent our troops into Afghanistan, they were overflowing with a new sense of purpose, patriotism and a determination to win.. But back to the argument that it was Clinton’s military that Bush used to implement overpowering triumph in Afghanistan… fast forward to Iraq.. The National Guard, or as John Kerry and Terry McAuliffe like to call it, the “fake” military, is being called up to fight a war that they aren’t prepared for.. I’m sorry, but if they’re not prepared to fight a war, then why the fuck did they sign up for the military..? I wonder how many people signed up for the National Guard thinking, “Sweet! Being in the fake military gives me all of the benefits and honors of serving my country without all of the shitty fighting wars stuff!”..? Well, I guess there are some Democrats in the military.. In addition to sending the National Guard overseas, now we’re being told that our Army is spread so thin that when we need to relieve our combat troops, we will have little choice but to call on the same soldiers who led the charge into Baghdad last year.. More proof backing up the notion that Clinton did a magnificent job preparing our military for war.. It’s probably better that he just dropped a few bombs on Iraq rather than committing our troops to the region with him as their Commander in Chief.. Honestly, should we be blaming Bush for calling up the National Guard or Clinton for giving Bush no other option..? FOOTNOTE: Hannity used the term “loathed” in reference to a letter that Bill Clinton wrote in 1969 to avoid the draft.. His actual quote was “…so many fine people have come to find themselves still loving their country but loathing the military…” so while he never actually claimed to loathe the military, he came closer to it than President Bush came to saying that Iraq was an “Imminent Threat,”