MIDEAST . . . KUWAIT

Just before jetting home, President Clinton slipped on his now-more-comfortable mantle of Commander-in-Chief with an address to U.S. troops in Kuwait. "You are the steel in the sword of American diplomacy," he told American forces in the wrap-up of his Mideast trip. He then drew cheers by first saying that up to a third of the 28,000 troops would be home by Christmas and then announcing that he was restoring their $210 a month food allowance. Speaking at an encampment some 50 miles from Iraq, Clinton promised to ensure thatSaddam Husseinwould not repeat his 1990 invasion of the oil-rich emirate. Clinton also made stops today at the Hall of Remembrance in Jerusalem, Israel's memorial to the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and in Saudi Arabia, where he discussed security issues and the commitments from Gulf countries to help fund theanti-Iraq buildup.