Clinton Backs Bush Offer of U.S. Troops for Somali Relief Effort

President-elect Bill Clinton on Thursday voiced his support for the Bush Administration’s offer of as many as 30,000 troops to help relief-workers in Somalia, saying, “I have felt for a long time we ought to do more” in the famine-hit East African nation.

Clinton, in comments between midday visits to two Little Rock-area shelters, said he found it “so heartening that the United States is now taking the initiative. . . . I think it is high time.”

U.S. officials have offered the United Nations up to a division of American troops to take part in a U.N. effort to distribute food to hundreds of thousands of hungry Somalis. U.S. officials believe the troops may be necessary to assure that the food can reach the starving people without interference from local warlords.

Clinton stopped short of commenting specifically on how the situation should be handled, or spelling out under what circumstances force should be used. He said he would elaborate on his views next week.

“I think there are a lot of things to be considered here,” he said. But he emphasized: “I applaud the initiative of President Bush and his advisers.”

Clinton said his advisers had been consulted Thursday morning by National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

Clinton’s comments came during a Thanksgiving Day in which he carved a turkey at a shelter for women and children, took part in a YMCA-sponsored “Turkey Trot” 5-kilometer race, watched football and dined with his family and in-laws.

At the Union Rescue Mission’s Dorcas House in central Little Rock, Ark., Clinton led nearly two dozen children in saying grace and carved a turkey. Later, he went to the mission’s Transient Lodge in North Little Rock, where he chatted with nearly two dozen men eating turkey dinners.

Clinton, who was told by a doctor on Wednesday that he needs to lose 10 pounds, ended the early morning race Thursday by joking: “I won my age and body-fat division.”

Red-faced and panting, he finished the 3.1-mile race in 24 minutes and 16 seconds. That was nearly eight minutes behind the winner.

Clinton, who wore a white sweat shirt, blue shorts and a maroon Arkansas Razorbacks baseball cap, has participated in the run each of the last six years. He spent time before the race shaking hands, hugging friends and accepting a running jacket from the Arkansas Running Club.

But Clinton’s intentions to diet may have been tested by the extensive menu served at the governor’s mansion.

Included in the main course were turkey and ham, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, bread dressing, corn-bread dressing, green beans, broccoli, Bing cherry gelatin salad, a relish tray with pickled watermelon and rolls. Dessert offerings were lemon pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, mincemeat pie, carrot cake, coffee and tea.

The dinner party included Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and their 12-year-old daughter, Chelsea; Clinton’s mother, Virginia Kelley, and stepfather, Richard Kelley; and Hillary Clinton’s parents, Hugh and Dorothy Rodham.

Clinton also appeared on the CBS program “The NFL Today” in a segment that was taped Wednesday. “You know all politicians are frustrated athletes,” Clinton told interviewer Greg Gumbel, jokingly suggesting that he might have gone into a sports career had he been more talented.

When he was asked to describe his favorite football team, Clinton diplomatically said that he roots for the Chicago Bears because of his wife’s hometown loyalties, likes watching the Washington Redskins, but in other cases sides with a team because he knows a specific player.

Today, Clinton and his family begin a three-day vacation in Southern California. While Clinton has described the trip as purely aimed at relaxation, aides have speculated that after two days of closed-door meetings with potential Cabinet members, he may use the time to make final decisions on members of his Administration. Clinton said Wednesday that he was close to decisions on several posts.

The President-elect is scheduled to return to Little Rock on Monday.