OK, SENATOR, NOW WHAT?

John Kerry wants me to believe that he "will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response."

Terrorists (presumably Islamic extremists, since they also attacked the Israeli embassy) have, once againattacked the United States. That's right folks, the terrorists attacked a US embassy, which is sovereign US territory. So my question to the Senator is: Tell me right now, with the information available to you right now, precisely what your "swift and certain" response would be, were you in the office you currently aspire to. You promised not to dither or waffle (that's what swift and certain mean to me, at least). So what's it going to be?

Granted that the bombing of the embassy in Tashkent is not of the same magnitude as 9/11. So you don't have to invade another country. But it is an attack and you said you would respond to "any attack." So I want to know what your response would be. Shall we confer with the UN, the French and the Germans? That would rule out "swift" and probably certain as well.

Oh, and don't bother to blame Bush for your inability to respond swiftly and certainly using international organizations such as the UN. The UN was broken long before 9/11. (Think Rwanda.)

You've got 24 hours.