Story: "Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered "they are probably both," then ventured "Predominantly -- probably Shiite."
That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.
Reyes could also not answer questions put by Stein about Hezbollah, a Shiite group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations that is based in Southern Lebanon. "
I am ashamed. He is from Texas, after all.
I see two things that have happened here. Either this is the best canidate, the champion that the Democrats have put forward to fill the seat of Intel chair, or this is just croniezim at its worst, putting the security of the country far behind the political expediancy.
And both of those are truly frightening.
On another note, I would like to applaud ABC News for their coverage on this, the radio reports about it could hardly have been more scathing.
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4 comments:
Not a very impressive answer.
Crazy! I'm 13, not a politician, and I know the answer!
Truly pathetic. I just hope that the Republicans can shape up enough to provide a worthwhile alternative to these stooges.
Here's an example where u don't have to know anything to hold key leadership position. So maybe when the pres of Iran said they are not building nuclear weapons, the new leadership will believe him. Wait, that already happened under Clinton's admin w/ N Korea.
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