AS the dust settles literally on the unbelievable atrocities in New York, Pittsburg and Washington, we must, as a nation, determine what action we should take in the interest of our people and for the long term peaceful future of the world.

We fund and employ our armed forces to protect the innocent public in circumstances like these, and if we don't decisively act then we are truly defenceless.

Our response will need to be considered, and it certainly must not be motivated by revenge. Whatever we do in our defence it will be painful, require great wisdom, courage, and above all, the support of the British people.

It is crystal clear to me that we do not have the option to do nothing, in the hope that those who perpetrated this evil will see sense and choose not to do it again. These wicked fanatics will interpret our inaction as a sign of weakness, and be encouraged to go on and crush society as we know it.

Britain, for whatever reason, is close to the front of this incredibly dangerous firing line, and it is in the national interest for us to co-operate with our friends in the rest of the world in order to defeat international terrorism on this new scale.

America's Foreign Policy is by no means perfect, and I for one have openly criticised Israeli behaviour in the Middle East as nothing short of disgraceful.

The relationship that America and the West has with the rest of the world is obviously connected to the conflict we now find ourselves in, and we must strive to resolve our differences in an amicable way because responsible negotiation must forever be preferable to war.

No one should, however, expect that America will be dragged to the conference table, and there can be no explanation for the slaughter of so many innocent people other than an as an act of malicious vengeance.

While revenge must not be our motivation, deterrence will inevitably be an essential part of the comprehensive solution required to defeat those who threaten democracy in this way. By David Crausby MP for Bolton North-east