Transcript of Congressional briefing on Lancet Iraq casualty study
Juan Cole has the transcript of Monday’s briefing by Cole, Gilbert Burnham, and Les Roberts.
InformationClearinghouse has the video.
Add comment December 13th, 2006
Archive for December 13th, 2006
Idiots in Congress
With so much attention being focussed on the lack of knowledge or insight in the President and his administration, we’ve evidently ignored the imbeciles from both parties in Congress. The new Chair of the House Intelligence Committee doesn’t know a Sunni from a Shiite. Neither does the Republican vice-chairman of the House intelligence sub-committee on technical and tactical intelligence, nor does the Republican Congresswoman who “oversees the CIA’s recruiting of Islamic spies.”
The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hizbollah was and incorrectly described al-Qa’eda as deriving from the Shia rather than Sunni sect of Islam.
Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamic groups that are the principal targets of America’s intelligence agencies.
“Al-Qa’eda is what – Sunni or Shia?” Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly magazine’s national security editor, asked Mr Reyes. “Al-Qa’eda, they have both,” came the reply. “You’re talking about predominately?” the congressman then asked, before venturing: “Predominantly – probably Shi’ite.”
As Mr Stein noted in his subsequent column: “He couldn’t have been more wrong. Al-Qa’eda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shi’ite showed up at an al-Qa’eda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.”
He then asked the congressman about the terrorist group Hizbollah. “Hizbollah. Uh, Hizbollah…” he said, laughing. “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
Now for the Republicans:
Democrat flunks his first intelligence test
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 8:13am GMT 13/12/2006# Read the Reyes interview
The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hizbollah was and incorrectly described al-Qa’eda as deriving from the Shia rather than Sunni sect of Islam.
Silvestre Reyes
Silvestre Reyes: ‘Hizbollah. Uh, Hizbollah…’Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamic groups that are the principal targets of America’s intelligence agencies.
“Al-Qa’eda is what – Sunni or Shia?” Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly magazine’s national security editor, asked Mr Reyes. “Al-Qa’eda, they have both,” came the reply. “You’re talking about predominately?” the congressman then asked, before venturing: “Predominantly – probably Shi’ite.”
As Mr Stein noted in his subsequent column: “He couldn’t have been more wrong. Al-Qa’eda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shi’ite showed up at an al-Qa’eda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.”
He then asked the congressman about the terrorist group Hizbollah. “Hizbollah. Uh, Hizbollah…” he said, laughing. “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
advertisementThe holes in his knowledge are a fresh embarrassment to Nancy Pelosi, the incoming Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose leadership was undermined when her chosen deputy was rejected by Democrats.
She selected Mr Reyes to chair the House intelligence committee over the head of Jane Harman, who is widely respected as having a firm grasp of the nuances of the Middle East. Miss Pelosi is said to harbour a long-time personal grudge against Miss Harman.
Mr Stein has been quizzing senior intelligence officials and politicians with similar questions for the past 18 months. In a similar gaffe-laden session, Willie Hulon, chief of the FBI’s national security branch, did not know the difference between Sunnis and Shia either. “The basics goes back to their beliefs and who they were following,” he said. “And the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shia and the difference between who they were following.”
So which were Iran and Hizbollah? With a 50 per cent chance of getting it right, Mr Hulon flunked by plumping for Sunni.
Congressman Terry Everett, a Republican and vice-chairman of the House intelligence sub-committee on technical and tactical intelligence, chuckled when he was asked the same question.
“One’s in one location, another’s in another location,” he said. “No, to be honest with you, I don’t know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.”
When Mr Stein outlined the difference, which dates back to the death of the Prophet Mohammed in AD632, Mr Everett said: “Now that you’ve explained it to me, what occurs to me is that it makes what we’re doing over there extremely difficult, not only in Iraq but that whole area.”
Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, a Republican who oversees the CIA’s recruiting of Islamic spies, was also stumped when asked if she knew the difference between Sunnis and Shia. “Do I? You know, I should. It’s a difference in their fundamental religious beliefs. The Sunni are more radical than the Shia. Or vice versa. But I think it’s the Sunnis who’re more radical than the Shia.”
Any hope of a rationale foreign policy from these dopes is just a fantasy.
Add comment December 13th, 2006