He "defunded" the size of the military, in terms of personnel and bases.
Yes, but
which bases and personnel did he cut?
Upon checking I see that in the timeperiod 1993-2000 the size of the US military has been reduced by 91,622 troops. While this is a sizeable scaleback, the cuts that occured earlier, between 1989-1993, were larger (197,318 troops). Yet it remains unclear to me whether these troops were in units or positions that would have been important or helpful during these two wars (Iraq-Afghanistan). Admittedly the source I found this in is a liberal website, so these numbers could be wrong. I also admit to knowing very little on the different units of the US military.
However, I wish to point out the following:
1. Unlike what the media would have us believe, the United States military had so far handled itself admirably in Iraq. In any historical context, a military commander that crushes the (numerically superior) conventional forces of the enemy (Iraqi military outnumbered US-allied military forces as 4-3 on the day of the invasion) within 40 days, and inflicts enemy casualties on a
44-1 ratio (assuming most conservative Iraqi military casualty numbers), and then proceeds to engage and suppress (violence in Iraq is abating) an enemy insurgency while inflicting at least a 2-1 casualty ratio (including Iraqi coalition dead) upon the enemy and capturing 30,000 guerillas, further proceeding to successfully hand over most of the country to local forces - any military commander who accomplishes even
one of those things would have been lauded as a hero. Many generals have accomplished less for their countries and have had monuments built to them. George Bush has been laughed at. Petraeus had been branded a 'traitor' by the Left.
But America's military had not underperformed in Iraq.
America's military was expected to get stuck for months fighting Saddam's army. They beat them in 40 days.
America's military was expected to get stuck for decades fighting an 'unwinnable' war. They are winning against the insurgency.
Liberals have been claiming that America's army is underequipped and undertrained to fight the Iraqi war. And yet almost every time insurgents fight American forces, the insurgents get routed.
True, Afghanistan has so far fared worse. However it is worth remembering that so far the US and its allies had suffered a combined total of over 6,000 casualties (mostly Afghani government forces) and performed very, very admirably against the Taleban, much better than the British and Soviets had in previous engagements in that area.