Ruh-roh
By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Foreign Policy, News, The War On Terrorism, The WorldMeet Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Nice guy, by all accounts quite smart and hard working.
And stunningly ignorant.
Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?
“Al Qaeda, they have both,� Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?�
“Sure,� I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Predominantly � probably Shiite,� he ventured.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.
That’s because the extremist Sunnis who make up a l Qaeda consider all Shiites to be heretics.
Al Qaeda’s Sunni roots account for its very existence. Osama bin Laden and his followers believe the Saudi Royal family besmirched the true faith through their corruption and alliance with the United States, particularly allowing U.S. troops on Saudi soil….
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah…â€Â?
Let me help you out, Silvestre. They’re a Shiite militia in Lebanon backed by Syria and Iran.
Yeepers.
Does it make anyone feel better to know that key Republicans and FBI counterterrorism officials fared poorly on the same test? Cuz it sure doesn’t do anything for me. These guys are paid $160,000 a year to understand this stuff. The fact that I am apparently more familiar with the forces at play than they are is — well, pick your adjective: absurd? appalling? frightening?
But it goes a long way towards explaining why we’ve done such a horrible job in Iraq.
As I noted above, Reyes is by all accounts a very smart man. Let’s hope he’s a quick study, because the nation is going to need it.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 10th, 2006 and is filed under Dumb Things Said By Smart People, Foreign Policy, News, The War On Terrorism, The World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 10th, 2006 at 11:45 am
More proof that ignorance is bi-partisan.
December 10th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Yes,yes,yes. But can we get partisan here for a sec? The point being made here is that two of the three branches of gov. have been playing like monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, due to ignorance or incompetence. And I agree. But it’s the executive branch, with the commander & cheif, that has all the tools necessary to build an appropriate plan for going to war. To me it’s clearly apparent where most of that focus was concentrated; removing Saddam from power. Why weren’t the consequences of doing that anticipated by the White House? Did our President know Shiite from Sunni or if Iran backed either of them, or how Iran would be so greatly strengthened by the removal of Saddam, the very same evil dictator we HELPED during our past failures in the region?
Now, some of you, Mr. Aqui included, were asking these questions BEFORE the war started. Why weren’t our elected officials?
Nobody else seams to care, and therefore we repeat history, again and again. And that’s why we should be concerned. Thanks for this post
December 10th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
A politicians job is politics. (Isn’t congress 90% Lawyers?) However, one would thing they would at least have a casual interest in the subject, considering we are at war and all.
Although I’m not all that surprised. My experience with federal bureaucrats has shown them to be woefully ignorance about science, technology and history. Now when it comes to back room deals, self promotion, lining their own pockets, intimidation and manipulation they are masters.
December 11th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Amen to that, brother…but we do the hiring and firing over there, so we’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.
December 11th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
More proof that none of them know what they’re doing. You’d think they would know this stuff when they all signed off on the war, but no such luck. Four years later, they’re still ignorant.
December 11th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
Not that it lets him off the hook, but for the sake of accuracy, Reyes voted against the 2002 war resolution, along with 132 other congressmen (only 6 of whom were Republicans.)
December 12th, 2006 at 7:51 am
Non sequitur.
December 19th, 2006 at 10:18 am
bush was dumb enough to rush into war!!
war should be the last option, diplomacy needs to be used when dealing with governments in the middle east.
this war, only proves that America’s foreign policy is very militaristic and that we have relied to much on the military to solve problems in that region.