Bush Criticizes Clinton-Gore on Defense

Sept. 7 -- George W. Bush is waging an election year offensive against the Clinton-Gore administration, accusing the White House of going AWOL on the nation’s military readiness.

“The next president will inherit a military in decline,” Bush told the American Legion’s national convention in Milwaukee, Wis., Wednesday. “I will rebuild the military power of the United States of America.”

The Republican presidential nominee will press the theme again today, with the help of some famous friends. Gen. Colin Powell will join Bush at a campaign appearance in Michigan this morning, and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf will appear with both Bush and Powell at a speech in Dayton, Ohio.

Powell and Schwarzkopf helped lead the Persian Gulf War effort under the administration of Bush’s father, President George Bush.

Bush Vows Improvements

Bush vowed to improve the lives of men and women in uniform if elected to the Oval Office in November.

“Our soldiers must have confidence that if asked to serve and sacrifice, the cause will be worthy, and our support for them will be total,” the Texas governor told the group. “We will act to give our armed forces better pay, better housing [and] better training.”

And Bush repeated his pledge to review all overseas deployments — including peacekeeping operations in the Balkans.

“We’ll let our friends be the peacekeepers,” he said. “The great country called America will be the peacemakers.”

Bush, a former Air National Guard pilot, also promised America’s 25 million veterans that he would improve their access to medical care and insist that the Veteran Administration act as an advocate for assistance, not an adversary.

“I will return the VA to the principle that it has a duty to assist veterans who seek service-related benefits,” he said. “That policy has changed. Should I become president, that will be our policy once again.”