PolitiFact.com
Statements about Military
Chain email

Chain email

Mostly False

Off target

Says the Department of Homeland Security has ordered "enough rounds of .40 caliber ammunition to kill every man, woman and child in the United States," possibly to combat "massive civil unrest" or "an invasion by a foreign power."

Chain email

Chain email

Pants on Fire!

Hit the delete button on this claim

"The ACLU has filed a suit to end prayer from the military completely."

Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson

Pants on Fire!

Nyet!

"Obama tells Russia that he'll turn over America's defense system to them if re-elected."

Democratic National Committee

Democratic National Committee

Half-True

Number is close, but amount was set under George W. Bush

"Under President Obama, U.S. security funding for Israel is at an all-time high."

Sheldon Whitehouse

Sheldon Whitehouse

True

Answering the call time and again.

Rhode Island has the "the second-most heavily deployed National Guard in the United States."

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

Mostly True

By the measure he uses, Santorum is pretty close

"When I was born, defense spending was 60 percent of the budget. It's now 17 percent."

Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

Pants on Fire!

They have -- time and again

Says in the last 20 years, the French have not "stood by" the United States on foreign policy.

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Half-True

Bipartisan budget bill tied Obama's hands

"President Obama is shrinking our military."

Sherrod Brown

Sherrod Brown

Mostly True

Rate is high for all young men

"More than one in five of veterans aged 20 to 24 can’t find a job to support their family or to ease the transition to civilian life."

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

Pants on Fire!

Our horse cavalry ain't what it used to be, either

The U.S. military is at risk of losing its "military superiority" because "our Navy is smaller than it's been since 1917. Our Air Force is smaller and older than any time since 1947."

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman

Mostly False

A big spender but not that big

"You look at defense … we're spending more than the rest of the world combined."

Alan Simpson

Alan Simpson

True

U.S. spending is nearly half the world's total

Says military expenditures for the United States are greater than the combined spending of the next 14 largest nations.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Mostly True

Most statistics back him up

In Iraq, "violence is down to an all-time low" since the start of the war.

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

False

Currently, it's less than a quarter

"By 2015, we will be sending so much interest" to China that "we will be paying for the entire People's Liberation Army."

Joe Biden

Joe Biden

Mostly True

The costs were relatively low

In Libya, "America spent $2 billion total and didn’t lose a single life."

Herman Cain

Herman Cain

Pants on Fire!

They've had it for more than 40 years

China is "trying to develop nuclear capability."

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann

Pants on Fire!

Most of that was under Bush, not Obama

"Under Barack Obama's watch, we have expended $805 billion to liberate the people of Iraq and, more importantly, 4,400 American lives."

Randy Forbes

Randy Forbes

Mostly True

A credible, but high-side estimate

"1.53 million jobs are at risk (from potential defense cuts)."

Leon Panetta

Leon Panetta

Half-True

Money and troop declines, but not always "hollowed out"

"After every major conflict ... what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep, across-the-board cuts."

Ron Paul

Ron Paul

Mostly True

Attacks are up

Every month since 9/11, there have been as many suicide attacks against the United States and its allies as there were in all the years leading up to 9/11.

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