1Kuwait airport looked very gloomy when the plane landed on Sunday, 15 January 2006. People’s faces were much the same – gloomy in a way for which I could see no justification. The passengers formed lines in front of the immigration officers who stamped their passports. There were signs above the front of each line, some of them saying GCC Citizens and others saying Citizens of Other Countries. I stood there, uncertain which line to stand in. Should I go to the line where the Filipinos from my flight were standing? Or the line with the people who didn’t look like me?
Under a No Smoking sign attached to one of the columns, a man in military uniform was standing, leaning against the column. I went up to him and asked him which line I should stand in. ‘Sir,’ I said, ‘does GCC Citizens includ
