THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, November 19, 1994            TAG: 9411190453
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY STEVEN GREENHOUSE, THE NEW YORK TIMES 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

HELMS: CLINTON NOT UP TO LEADING THE MILITARY

Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican who is in line to head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Friday that President Clinton was not up to the job of being commander in chief.

Two days after the Clinton administration rejected his call to delay a vote on a world trade agreement, Helms made a number of caustic comments about the president's policies and Clinton personally.

Asked in an interview whether Clinton was ``up to the job'' of commander in chief, the senator responded: ``You ask an honest question; I'll give you an honest answer. No, I do not. And neither do the people in the armed forces.''

Appearing on the CNN program ``Evans and Novak,'' Helms went on to say that ``just about every military man who writes to me'' thinks Clinton is not fit for the job.

Helms, one of the Senate's most conservative members, criticized the administration's intervention and Haiti and policies in the Middle East. He was not, however, uniformly confrontational, leaving the door open to continued foreign aid, particularly to Israel.

The White House said Friday night that it would not comment on Helms' remarks. A transcript of the interview was made public Friday, but the program is not scheduled to be broadcast until today at 12:30 p.m. on CNN. The accession of the 73-year-old North Carolinian to the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee has filled the White House with dread. While foreign policy is historically the president's domain, and many of the Republicans on the committee are more moderate, the chairman can bedevil an administration in dozens of ways, from holding up nominations to blocking the funds needed to carry out the president's policies. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

Sen. Jesse Helms, left, criticized President Clinton, right, and

some of his policies.

by CNB