The Bedouin's Camel

There is an old fable which elderly people tell their grandchildren. It apparently originated in the Middle East but now it is a part of folklore in many cultures across the world. The story goes like this: a bedouin was travelling with his camel in a vast desert somewhere in Arabia. Night fell before he could reach any settlement or oasis and suddenly a strong sandstorm emerged out of nowhere. The bedouin quickly set up his tent and hid inside it to keep himself safe from the strong wind and piercing sand, while the camel stood outside. Camels are considered strong animals, perfect for the desert environment, and are known to withstand the strongest sandstorms without any cover or shelter. In fact it’s a common practice to hide behind a sitting camel to take refuge from storms. Anyhow, after a while the camel peeped into the tent and said,”the storm is very strong and the sand is stinging my eyes. Can I just keep my head inside your tent?” The bedouin couldn’t find any reason to deny the favor. So he allowed the camel to keep his head inside. After sometime, the camel spoke again,”the wind is getting stronger and my thin neck shakes every time a gust hits me. Can I just bring my neck inside?” The bedouin again couldn’t refuse and the camel brought his neck inside. After a while it spoke again,”look, my back has a huge hump on it and it stands in the way of the strong wind like a ship's sail. Every time a gust hits me I hardly keep myself from turning over. Can I just bring my hump inside?” The bedouin said,”but your hump is on your back. Bringing it in means bringing in your whole body.” The camel said,”no, I’ll keep my tail outside.” The bedouin couldn’t argue and allowed the camel in, with its tail hanging outside. It is said that in the end, the camel managed to get its tail inside too and since it was a large animal, it occupied all the space and eventually pushed the bedouin out of the tent into the sandstorm.

Since the insurgency against Assad began in Syria, the US has been acting like the bedouin’s camel. It started with indirectly supporting the ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels and now it’s conducting direct airstrikes on targets in Iraq. If the pattern remains the same, it will not take long before the US brings in its tail too i.e. ‘boots on the ground’.