Don't forget the grandpappy of EU, the original Zahn trilogy. The re-emergence of clones factors significantly into this story line. The principle characters were shocked at seeing clones at the helm of the old star destroyer. It wouldn't be such a shock if we had plenty of disenfranchised clones already hanging around the universe holding "will work for food" and "disabled vet" signs.

Methodology changed somewhere along the way. The spartii cloning cylinders could produce full-grown clones in months, not years.

I haven't read the novels in over a decade but I remember this quite well, and I actually put more stock in Zahn's stories than the "official canon" of the PT. Ain't that a kick in the teeth?