Getting The Hump

‘IT’S been a while coming but the Guardian has finally heard from Shafiq Rasul, one of the British detainees being held in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay.

”You know when you’ve been tangoed”

The letter was written to his brother, Habib, but he has kindly repeated it to the paper.

”Everything’s OK in Guantanamo,” writes Shafiq, in the mode of Allan Sherman. ”It’s just that some of the guards are OK with us, and some are saying things, calling us names like camel rider and raghead.”

The Guardian, like Habib, thinks this is total disgrace. Habib calls the alleged behaviour of the guards ”blatantly racist” and offers the defence, ”he’s never seen a camel in his life”.

Doubtless some listening psychiatrist will latch onto that and say how it was the trauma of never having seen a camel, whether in the Arabian sands or a zoo, that led to Shafiq’s incarceration.

We also doubt that Shafiq has seen many weapons of mass destruction either, especially those shaped like camels; but then neither have we, save for those belonging to our own forces and those of our Allies.

Indeed, in the Independent, Tony Blair can be heard wondering whether such devices of annihilation will ever be found. However, he does consider that claim that Iraq has destroyed all its WMDs as ”palpably absurd”.

Whether this claim is more or less absurd than the earlier claim that we would all be wiped out in 45 minutes or that Tony had no hand in the public naming of Dr David Kelly depends on what angle you take on things.

And if you have ever seen a camel…’

Posted: 12th, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink