[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 22160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



TODAY'S MILITARY SMALLER, LESS CAPABLE, OVERWORKED AND LESS READY THAN 
                              8 YEARS AGO

  (Mr. HANSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, last week Vice President Gore mislead every 
American again. I am not talking about raising chickens. Al Gore 
claimed that our military is the strongest in history. Our military is 
the best in the world today, but it is simply not true that our 
military today is the strongest in history, not even by recent history.
  One only has to look back to the 1980s to find a military force 40 
percent larger, with a much more robust capacity that could easily have 
engaged two major threats on two separate fronts at once. Today, the 
Joint Chiefs tell us that fighting two fronts could only be 
accomplished with high risk and significant loss of life.
  Looking back at World War II, the United States fielded an Army of 
over 8 million soldiers and airmen. The United States was fighting on 
three separate fronts in three separate geographical areas of the 
world, and we were winning all three.
  It is laughable to consider today's force equal. If Al Gore believes 
today's military is the best in history, he obviously has not talked to 
thousands of soldiers, airman and Marines who are leaving in total 
frustration.
  By any measure, today's military is smaller, less capable, overworked 
and less ready than it was 8 years ago. Anyone aspiring to be Commander 
in Chief should know that.

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