Lonan3 Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 TIMES ARTICLE The incoming chairman of a congressional intelligence committee was yesterday struggling to explain his ignorance of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. Silvestre Reyes, the Democrat chosen to head the House of Representatives committee, was asked whether members of al-Qaeda came from the Sunni or the Shia branch of Islam. “Al-Qaeda, they have both,” he answered, adding: “Predominantly probably Shi’ite.” In fact, al-Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organisation and views Shia Muslims as heretics. Earlier this year Stein flummoxed two Republicans on the committee, Jo Ann Davis and Terry Everett, with similar questions about the differences between Sunni and Shia. “One’s in one location, another’s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don’t know,” replied Mr Everett. Stein has also caught out Willie Hulon, chief of the FBI’s new national security branch when he was asked to which branch of Islam were Iran and Hezbollah belonged. “Sunni” he replied. “Wrong,” said Stein. Maybe we've misjudged GWB, maybe he's actually smarter than the average in the USA! Oh, and incidentally (from the same article) Only six people in the US Embassy in Baghdad are fluent in Arabic, about two dozen of its 1,000 employees having some familiarity with the language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Tatlock Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 No surprise really. When you listen to a lot of yanks in his administration on newsnight and channel four news, many of them seem out of their depth when taken to task. Notice the big difference when the president was questioned by brit journalists last week? Following his party's trouncing at the polls recently, if he really wants to serve his country, I think he should do the honourable thing and resign and call for an election, as he is blocking all progress despite clear messages that a reversal of policy is required. GWB has no credibility to carry this through, and while he sits in the Whitehouse with his thumb up his bum muttering things and playing with his dog, simply to try and save his own face, the world is on hold for two years. Time to go George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Smelly Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Lies admitted Why go to war on lies and mistruths ? Oil for the USA is the only thing that they wanted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 Scary Tale Of American Intelligence An oxymoron if there ever was one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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