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Clinton Calls Bombing 'Evil'

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton told a stunned nation on Saturday that the "evil of act of terror" that killed a woman in a bomb blast in Atlanta will not halt the Olympic Games or their world-bridging spirit of sportsmanship.

The bombing, which wounded more than 100 people, came just 10 days after the explosion that destroyed TWA Flight 800. Clinton called it "an act of cowardice that stands in sharp contrast to the courage of the Olympic athletes."

The president, who was up most of the night receiving reports from the Olympic city, told a national audience that those responsible for the bombing at an open-air concert in Centennial Park near downtown Atlanta deserve the death penalty.

"I believe that people that deliberately kill other people, particularly under circumstances that demonstrate this kind of cowardice ... deserve capital punishment, I certainly do," the president said.

``I want to make clear our common determination: We will spare no efforts to find out who was responsible for this murderous act,'' Clinton said in his weekly radio address, which was also carried live on television.

``We will track them down, we will bring them to justice, we will see that they are punished,'' the president said.

``We are all agreed that the Games will go on,'' he said. ``We will take every necessary step to protect the athletes and those who are attending the Games.''

And he added: ``A vicious act of terror like this is clearly directed at the spirit of our own democracy. It seeks to rip also at the spirit of the Olympics.''

``But we must not let these attacks stop us from going forward,'' he said. ``We cannot let terror win -- that is not the American way. The Olympics will continue. The Games will go on. The Olympic spirit will prevail. We must be firm in this. We cannot be intimidated by acts of terror.''

The president expressed his condolences to the victims and their families, and praised security officials for their work in spotting the bomb and alerting the crowd.

``I want to thank the brave security personnel who were on the scene -- they saw the package, they alerted the bomb squad, they cleared the scene,'' he said. ``They prevented a much greater loss of life.''

Clinton said new measures would be added to a security effort that he said is already the most extensive ever put in place for the Olympics.

White House press secretary Mike McCurry said Clinton is considering another visit to the Games to reassure people that he is confident in the security measures that have been taken.

``He doesn't rule out that possibility,'' McCurry said, adding that Clinton doesn't want his presence in Atlanta to distract from the investigation.

Clinton was at the opening ceremonies and officially opened the Games. He and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, viewed gymnastics and swimming championships on Thursday.

Their daughter, Chelsea, attended events throughout the first week of the Games. Vice President Al Gore, who is scheduled to attend the closing ceremonies, had just returned from the Games when the explosion occurred.

McCurry said Gore and Mrs. Clinton still planned to return to the Games, but would do so only if law enforcement officials on the scene approved.

The president noted that his daughter had often visited the park during her week in Atlanta and had visited an exchange there where people go to swap the hundreds of commemorative pins that have been issued to celebrate the summer Games.

The president placed phone calls to leaders of Congress and to GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole to brief them on the incident, McCurry said.

In the weekly Republican radio address, Dole referred to both the Atlanta and TWA incidents and said: ``For the second time in two weeks, we find ourselves mourning the loss of innocent life. We must make a very public pledge: We will find the perpetrators, we will stop them, we will punish them, and we will never surrender to their terror. This we resolve not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans.''

The White House said Clinton expressed personal thanks to Dole for those remarks.

McCurry said White House aide Mack McClarty is in Atlanta and will remain there to monitor developments and coordinate the federal response.

When asked if there is any link between the Atlanta bombing and the explosion that destroyed the TWA aircraft, killing all 230 people on board, McCurry said: ``There's no reason to believe that.''

Before the Clinton family left the White House for Camp David, the presidential retreat in western Maryland, the president used a telephone hookup to address Hispanic supporters gathered at several locations around the country.

``This terrible incident in Atlanta reminds us once again that the forces in the world today that are out to divide us are the enemies of democracy and we have to stand against it,'' he told them.

The president cut short his remarks saying, ``Please forgive me, I haven't had a lot of sleep and I have to go back to the matters at hand.''

Aides said the president would be briefed on developments periodically and would proceed as planned Sunday morning to attend a convention of disabled veterans in New Orleans.