U.S. Offers GIs to U.N. for Somalia : Famine: Administration says up to 30,000 troops may guard food for the starving. Aircraft from El Toro Marine base could assist in amphibious landing.

WASHINGTON —  The Bush Administration said Thursday it is “gravely concerned” about efforts by Somali warlords to block distribution of food aid in famine-plagued Somalia and has offered to send up to 30,000 U.S. troops to help guarantee that supplies reach the starving.

The troop offer, broached to the United Nations on Wednesday by acting Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, awaits a response from U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. He must decide whether to accept the American plan and call on other nations to join the effort.

U.S. officials said that, if Boutros-Ghali gives the go-ahead, a rapid deployment force of 6,000 paratroopers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., would be ready to leave by air within 24 hours; the 82nd Airborne could provide as many as 12,000 more troops within a few days.

The Pentagon also said the amphibious ship Tripoli and five companion vessels are now in the Indian Ocean, steaming toward Somalia with a force of 2,000 Marines--along with 16 Harrier fighter aircraft and some helicopters--and could arrive within three days.

Authorities said the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy is on station in the Mediterranean Sea and could be dispatched, if needed. Also on tap are Marine aircraft from the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which would be used to assist in case of an amphibious landing.

At El Toro, officials declined to comment on the situation.

“Our policy is we don’t comment on future operations,” Marine Lt. Brad Bartelt, a spokesman for the base, said Thursday. “Until it’s set in stone we can’t say anything.”

Bartelt was among a contingent of 450 Marines from Orange County who just returned after spending six months in the Persian Gulf and protecting food shipments in Somalia.

The situation in Somalia is much worse than the American public knows, Bartelt said.

“What you see on television is just magnified in person,” he said. “It’s tenfold worse.”

Bartelt added that the most difficult thing about his mission in Somalia was “seeing the ones you can’t help. The starvation . . . That’s the hardest thing.”

Officials said Washington hopes that the United States could limit its role primarily to getting the operation under way, and that troops from other countries would be able to replace American forces after the region is secured.

The move marked a major turnabout in American policy on Somalia. Until now, the Administration has sought to minimize the U.S. role in Somalia. It has offered logistic support for Pakistani troops now on duty as U.N. peacekeeping forces. But the Americans have said they would not engage in direct military action.

Military authorities said that under the rules of engagement the United States has proposed, American military commanders would be authorized to shoot whenever they felt threatened; they would not have to wait until they are fired upon before engaging hostile forces.

“This is a real change,” one knowledgeable Pentagon official conceded Thursday. He said that if the Somali warlords did not back down quickly, as hoped, the number of troops required to continue the operation “could add up in a hurry.”

Even so, they say that any American forces dispatched to Somalia would be used solely to secure the port and to provide escorts for food-distribution operations. They would not be expected to line distribution routes or to engage in operations throughout the Somali countryside.

It was not immediately clear whether the White House was able to notify President-elect Bill Clinton before Eagleburger made his offer. The White House said only that presidential National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft had discussed the plan with Clinton “within the past 24 hours.”

In Little Rock, Ark., Clinton said Thursday that he supports the Bush Administration offer.

“The thing I think is so heartening is that the United States is now taking the initiative, going to the United Nations with a number of options, obviously considering pushing this more strongly,” the President-elect said. “I think it is high time.”

“I think the American people should be happy, and I’m glad that it’s happening on Thanksgiving,” he added.

If the United States were to supply the bulk of the forces for the Somali effort, as expected, officials said the operation would be under an American commander. Washington historically has insisted that any U.S. forces be under American command.

Authorities said Bush’s decision to offer to intervene militarily in Somalia was based on increasing evidence that Somali warlords were blocking U.N. humanitarian efforts and that unless some action were taken soon, millions of Somalis soon would die.

Officials said that, while the United States has not been monitoring the situation in detail, there have been reports from private relief agencies in the region over the past few days that food was being hijacked and that supplies were not getting through to those who need them.

In his statement Thursday, made public here and in Kennebunkport, Me., where President Bush was spending Thanksgiving, Fitzwater said the United States is “gravely concerned about the people of Somalia and our ability to provide food and medicine under the dangerous conditions that exist.

“We are consulting with the United Nations about the best way to guarantee relief supplies from around the world,” the press secretary added. “We want to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches these starving people as soon as possible.”

As has been the case before, officials said Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had initially been cautious about the plan, insisting that the Administration spell out, in advance, the specific objective, military goal and length of the operation. But in the end, he agreed with the decision to offer U.S. troops for the Somali mission.

U.S. officials also took pains to point out that the situation in Somalia is far different from that in the Balkans, where the Administration has said it would be reluctant to use ground forces. In the Balkans, there is far more rugged terrain and the opposition forces are far better equipped.

Nevertheless, authorities said the Somali operation would raise serious concerns, ranging from precisely when and how U.S. forces could get out of the country to the possibility that they might become involved with guerrilla units.

Healy reported from Washington, and Pine from Kennebunkport, Me. Matt Lait contributed from Orange County.