It cast a dark shadow over what should have been the biggest night of the Atlanta games for city traders and crowds.

The bombing also brought to the fore the theory that if any one is determined to cause havoc and mayhem he or she can do it. No amount of security preparations will stop such acts.

The act itself is that of a sick mind. It was a deliberate attempt to wound and kill innocent people who came to sing and dance, watch events on the giant screens or just to wander around buying souvenirs.

This blast, which turned revelry into fear and desperation, and caused two deaths, including that of a journalist who survived wars, cast a pall of gloom over a city that has worked hard for six long years to make what is the last Olympic game this century, and a centennial one at that, the most successful one.

What emerged after the blast was an exhibition of resilience, bravado, fear and tension.

Different people expressed different emotions.

However, one emotion that everyone felt was that of sadness. This feeling must have permeated the hearts of millions of those who viewed it, whether on the Internet, 500 cable channels, CNN, SKY Television and other channels around the globe.

From the remotest village in Africa to the capitals of the world, everyone was part of the reaction.

Reaction to this terrorist act by the United States and its allies was sober. The U.S. government, reeling from the Oklahoma blast which killed 166 people and learning from their folly in pointing a quick finger at "Middle Eastern and Islamic sources", kept reassuring people that the "anonymous" perpetrator(s) of this heinous act will be traced and brought to justice.

What is more noteworthy is that American officials, when being interviewed by the Zionist controlled media, repeatedly made pleas to the public not to jump to conclusions.

In fact, immediately after the tragic blow up of TWA flight 800, President Clinton, the FBI head, the laconical U.S. Attorney, Janet Reno all said that until investigations produced final results on the cause of the crash and clues are found leading to the culprits, people should not speculate.

This is a far cry from the reaction to the Oklahoma bombing when both U.S. officials and the media immediately pointed the finger at Arabs and Muslims. This hasty denunciation caused the death of a pregnant Arab woman, the burning of several mosques and the destruction of dozens of Arab American businesses. What was disturbing to note during the Oklahoma incident was the leading questions being put to so called "security experts" the majority of whom were American Zionists and Israelis. Even during the incidents of the last two weeks, the media had a dig at the Arabs projecting Israeli security fears. They conveniently forgot the downing of a civilian Libyan airliner flown by French pilots. They conveniently forgot the terror acts of Israel in Lebanon when Israeli pilots, using freely-supplied American warplanes, rained death and destruction on hundreds of thousands of innocent Lebanese civilians.

The conclusion to be derived from the Atlanta bombing believed to be carried out by a white American male with a Southern accent is that terror has no religion or nationality. Be it in Ireland, Sri Lanka or the United States, acts of terror that claim innocent lives should be countered with vigor and determination.

No act of terror should go unpunished. Blowing up the houses of innocent people in the occupied West Bank is an act of terror as equal and horrendous as those carried out by American militiamen, the IRA, Hutus or Tamil murder squads.

This is a world problem. You cannot condone certain acts by some countries and not justify others because of political differences. The U.S. and Clinton should not jump so quickly to label some countries as terrorists. What is needed is a U.N., not a U.S.-sponsored, conference on terrorism where measures to counter this threat to all countries of the globe are discussed.

It is only through cooperation and dialogue that an effective package which contains measures acceptable to all can be made.