(CNN)I'm a former British Intelligence officer who combated terrorism for six years. Counter-terrorism is a nasty, complex and often frustrating job. It's not for the faint-hearted. Sometimes terrorists slip through the net, but often they are stopped in their tracks by the use of arrests or absolute force.
All of us who've worked on the front lines know that gunning down a terrorist is only one part of the solution. We don't want violence, because the bottom line is that we're fighting violence. We want other solutions.
While the facts about what happened in the terrorist attack in London on Wednesday are still under police investigation, certain details have been officially revealed. Khalid Masood, a British national, drove his car into numerous pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before smashing his vehicle into railings near the Palace of Westminster.
The carnage on the bridge resulted in three deaths and severe injuries to others, including a woman who fell into the River Thames. Masood then sprinted to The Houses of Parliament and knifed to death a fourth person, unarmed police constable Keith Palmer. Masood was shot by security forces.
The dreadful nature of the attack was not unprecedented. But what happened after Masood was gunned down was remarkable.
After the police and other emergency services raced to the crime scene to help the victims, they also tried to resuscitate Masood. Why? Because paramedics believed the terrorist deserved to live.
Ultimately what happened on Wednesday showed how community belief in British values steadfastly pulls people together with remarkable heroism and resolution in times of crises. Members of the public rushed to help injured French children, Britons, Romanians, South Koreans, Greeks, Germans, Polish, Irish, Chinese, Italians and Americans.
Tory Foreign Minister Tobias Ellwood tried to resuscitate PC Palmer by giving him mouth to mouth. We Brits are a multicultural bunch and always have been. We're travellers, adventurers and thinkers. We are also fighters.
Sometimes we do the right thing overseas. Sometimes in our history we've got it wrong. But one thing we've never got wrong is our embracing of foreign nationals moving to our country and the tourists who visit our shores.
