Helms Says Clinton Is Not an Able Leader of Military

The soon-to-be chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Friday he doesn’t believe President Clinton is a capable commander in chief of the nation’s armed forces.

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) also said in an interview for CNN’s “Evans and Novak” program to be broadcast today that he will try as soon as the new Congress convenes in January to get all U.S. troops recalled home from Haiti.

“They ought never to have been sent in there in the first place,” Helms said. “I think it’s disgraceful that we have U.S. troops collecting garbage in Haiti.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Helms, 73, said he also would oppose Senate ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty and the Biodiversity Treaty and that he would like to abolish the U.S. Agency for International Development, which hands out most foreign aid.

“I think we ought to replace it with something that does not willy-nilly give away United States taxpayer money to foreign governments who are opposed to us, or at least opposed to civil rights and all the rest of it,” he said.

And Helms said he opposes an option reportedly under consideration by the Administration to provide up to $5 billion in military aid for Bosnia’s Muslim-led government.

“Let’s give compassionate aid where we can to help children . . . and that sort of thing,” he said. “But . . . sooner or later we’re going to get down to common sense and realize that we can’t solve disputes with money and the blood of our people by interfering with things that have been going on for thousands of years.”

Asked specifically if he thought Clinton was up to the job as commander in chief, Helms said: “No, I do not, and neither do the people in the armed forces.”

Asked to name any generals or admirals who hold that view, Helms said there are some, but he would not name them.

But Helms said he thinks he will work well with Clinton’s secretary of state, Warren Christopher, calling him “a decent man.”

“And I think there’ll be more agreement than you might imagine between Warren Christopher and me,” he said.

Helms said he also would support a constitutional amendment to allow prayer in public schools.

“All this falderal about who will be offended and all the rest of it is just too much for me,” he said.