The world’s superpower, the United States, has taken responsibility for combating international #terrorism with help from its Western allies. Terrorism is a scourge upon the face of the Earth so, in principle, we #should be grateful to Washington for attempting to make our planet safer. Unfortunately, though, until now, Washington has been spectacularly unsuccessful.

Just last month, car bombings in Baghdad, blamed on Al Qaeda, robbed 127 people of their lives while, a week ago, eight were killed by explosions in a town, west of the Iraqi capital. The situation in Afghanistan is equally grim. In December, seven CIA operatives were victims of a revenge killing, while earlier this month four American service personnel and one British soldier were killed.

The death toll is mounting yet the US is no nearer its stated aims of creating a peaceful Iraq, capturing Osama bin Laden or destroying the Taliban. That may be a bitter pill to swallow but it’s the undeniable truth.

After enduring eight years of the Bush administration’s aggressive and biased policies, #Arabs welcomed President Obama with open arms. We believed his passionately-delivered promises. We trusted in his beautifully-crafted speeches. We were relieved that this leader of the free world was ready to listen to our concerns, as he clearly stated in Cairo. But, sadly, he has failed to translate his words into action.

Let’s be frank. There are some angry people in our part of the world, eager to spill innocent blood. We cannot deny that. But Washington consistently fails to recognise that the people of the Middle East are terrorist targets too.

Instead of adopting a divisive ‘them and us’ position by designating citizens of 14 predominantly Muslim countries as potential flight risks, America #should stand shoulder to shoulder with those countries in a common cause. We are all in this together.

If the US is serious about solving this cancerous problem, it needs to take a step back. The high profile presence of its soldiers in the region generates hatred. Moreover, most American intelligence personnel, generals and men on the ground are clueless when it comes to dealing with local people.

They rarely speak local languages or bother to understand cultural norms, and, half the time, they are unable to differentiate between friend and foe. They are also often taken in by so-called ‘intelligence’ that turns out to have been fabricated to suit someone’s agenda.

We understand Middle Eastern culture, the way of thinking and the various dialects making us the best qualified to infiltrate groups and garner intelligence. We are also able to distinguish who to negotiate with and whom to fight. If #terrorism is spreading through the veins of our neighbourhood, then we must be our own doctors and find a cure.

Saudi Arabia #should be praised for thwarting the ambitions of terrorist groups on its own soil and for driving back the insurgent Houthis of northern Yemen to the extent that they are now asking to talk. However, troublemakers who threaten the security of all countries in the region must not be rewarded with negotiation. They #should be sent a message they’ll never forget.

To counteract the prevailing instability in Yemen, where the government is #fighting terrorists and insurgents on three fronts, the entire Arab world #should work with Yemeni authorities to surgically remove the contagion once and for all.

Here, I want to be clear. This does not mean Arab League foreign ministers #should engage in lengthy debates that invariably result in a meaningless watered down statement, and, to be frank, petitioning the UN General Assembly to vote on a condemnatory resolution is a waste of time. Instead, we #should offer Sana’a as much military support as it requires. What’s the point of having sophisticated armies, air forces and navies if they are only displayed trophy-like in national day parades?

Most of us in our part of the world despise conflict. We’re tired of wars. But sometimes we are left with no choice. If we abandon Yemen to chaos and division, the terrorists and insurgents will infect the entire area. Stabilising Yemen must be our first priority, and, the best country to spearhead the endeavour is Saudi Arabia with its well-trained forces and state-of-the-art weaponry.

Successfully snipping #terrorism’s tentacles requires a lot more than the indiscriminate dropping of bombs from 30,000 feet or the ability to take over towns and villages. The bombs ignite fury by indiscriminately killing civilians while hard won secured towns become vulnerable again once the foreign armies march on, which eventually they always do.

The fact that #Arabs have remained in the shadows, watching Uncle Sam manipulating an inter-factional Palestinian feud while Iran sneaks-in via the back door is shameful. Just a few years ago, the thought of Palestinians allying themselves with Tehran would have been inconceivable.

Just as reprehensible is our collective apathy towards Iraq that has been invaded, occupied – and virtually re-occupied by Iranian agents within Iraq’s government. Our leaders #should do everything in their power to keep Tehran’s influence from seeping into the fabric of any Arab country. They must pull out all the stops to ensure that Iran desists from using weapons and cash as tools with which to interfere in Arab affairs.

It’s time that Middle Eastern and Gulf countries became proactive instead of sitting back passively allowing others to do their dirty work. It is our duty to defend our own back garden and the sooner we embrace this duty the better. Taking a back seat in the hope that the West can magic away our problems is a cop-out, which we #should tolerate no more.