Clinton just wanted to be seen as compassionate to our service members in
the hope that it would get him re-elected.

Must have worked.

If a policy is put into place and then ignored the poilicy still exists. I
believe that you need to look up the definition of policy.

Do you believe that the "policies" of one president are automatically binding
on all of his successors? Laws are, but policies are a matter of executive
discretion.