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New Intel Chief Reyes Flunks Terror Quiz
Rep. Silvestre Reyes has been tapped by Nancy Pelosi to chair the House Intelligence Committee. But it seems the Texas Democrat suffers from a serious lack of intelligence about the terrorist organizations his committee will deal with in the war on terrorism.
During an interview with Congressional Quarterly National Security Editor Jeff Stein, Reyes was asked whether al-Qaida was a Sunni or Shiite organization.
"Al-Qaida, they have both,” Reyes answered. "You’re talking about predominantly? . . . Predominantly, probably Shiite.” In fact, al-Qaida was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization, and its members view Shiites as heretics. Stein then asked if Reyes knew who Hezbollah was. "Hezbollah,” Reyes replied. "Uh, Hezbollah . . .” He never did offer an answer.
Story Continues Below Stein told CNN that he was "amazed” by Reyes’ lack of basic knowledge about the two terrorist groups.
"If you’re the baseball commissioner and you don’t know the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox, you don’t know baseball,” Stein said. "You’re not going to have the respect of the people you work with.” Reyes is not alone among elected officials when it comes to a lack of basic knowledge about Islam and the Middle East. Stein said that when he interviewed two other Intelligence Committee members last year – Reps. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., and Terry Everett, R-Ala. – both were "flummoxed” by basic questions about Sunnis and Shiites.
The lack of familiarity with Islamic and Middle Eastern culture extends even to U.S. officials in Iraq. The recent report from the Iraq Study Group disclosed that only about two dozen of the 1,000 staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad have some knowledge of the Arabic language – and just six are fluent.
Editor's note:
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