Democrat Sylvestre Reyes. New head of House Intelligence Committee. Doesn’t know Shi’ite from Shinola.
Iraq: The voters said no – but Congress says yes | The Agonist — This is an interesting essay by Alexander Cockburn. These newly elevated Democrats are going to blow it for sure. The anecdotes at the begonning of this essay summarizes it all for me.
First, lets yield the floor to a Republican, Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, who recently proclaimed: “We have no business being a policeman in someone elses civil war. I welcome the Iraq Study Groups report, but if we are ultimately going to retreat, I would rather do it sooner than later.” Not cut and walk. Cut and run.
Now lets go to a Democrat, Representative Sylvestre Reyes right of Texas, Nancy Pelosis pick as head of the House Intelligence Committee. The freshly anointed Reyes told Newsweek: “Were not going to have stability in Iraq until we eliminate those militias, those private armies. We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq… I would say 20,000 to 30,000 – for the specific purpose of making sure those militias are dismantled, working in concert with the Iraqi military.”
Reyes comes to his important post with an open mind, meaning an empty one. He knows nothing of the region. This became clear in his brief parley with a reporter from the Congressional Quarterly who had the impudence to question him at the end of a tiring day, when men of mature judgment head for the bar.
CQs man asked Reyes if al-Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite. Reyes tossed a mental coin. “Predominantly – probably Shiite.” Wrong, of course, since al-Qaeda is Sunni – of a notoriously intolerant strain. Its as if Reyes had called the Pope a Presbyterian.
Then the pesky newshound probed him on the matter of Hezbollah. “Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah…” Reyes answered irritably. “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock?”
What happened to electing people that are at least educated? Maybe they can change the name to the House Lack of Intelligence Committee. Where is Ted Stevens when we need him? By the way, not only is al’Qaeda all Sunni, but they hate the Shi’ites to an extreme. And this guy does not know that? Peachy.
Weird, and I thought Democrats were suppose to be the second coming. I guess its status quo on Capital Hill.
Damned if you do, damned if you dont.
First off i gotta say they should replace the guy with someone more knowledgeable, its that simple.
Second They aren’t even in office yet but they get to be criticized as if they were. Its like getting angry at an unborn baby for not getting straight A’s.
#2…Tom2…..Do you really believe that it’s going to get ANY better???
Do you honestly think that it really matters what letter of the alphabet is capitalized after one of these clowns names?
This guy was on the damn committee BEFORE the election, so you would have thought he might have paid attention at at least 1 of the meetings.
The sad thing here is that Jane Harmen, who is ranking member of that committee for the Democrats and SHOULD be the chairman, isn’t, because Nancy Pelosi dosn’t like her. Harman is extreamly knowledgable and would have made a damn good chairman….except for pissiness. No wonder women have no place in politics.(can’t wait for the flames on THAT…lol)
I agree we should cut the guy some slack.
It not like the meetings at the Oval Office where GB didn’t even realize there were three main groups in Iraq, which would begin to fight each other in the vaccuum.
The important facts are that there are two main rivals fighting and which is in power now. Not which one Al Qeada or Hezbollah back.
Heck, why don’t you ask him what the difference is between a Sunni and a Shiite is why your at it.
They should have public hearings with all senator candidates before each election, where they would be asked general knowledge questions such as:
* Which countries border to Iraq?
* How much does a gallon of gas cost?
* What’s the average salary in the U.S.?
* What’s the capital of India?
* Who’s the President of Iran?
* Is Finland a monarchy or republic?
* Who’s Ozzy Osbourne?
If they fail on these very basic questions, they shouldn’t be allowed to run.
#1 “I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003
and 49 more
http://tinyurl.com/ydyxto
BTW I think Democrat Sylvestre Reyes will have his own list shortly.
As stated above, Do you think that either party holds the franchise
on stupidity ??
Never mind that BUSH INVADED A WHOLE FRIGGIN MUSLIM COUNTRY without know there were different kinds of Muslims… I still think Reyes has to withdraw his name.
You really can’t haveopinions about the Middle East if you don’t understand who’s Sunni and Shiia. It would be like having an opinion about North Ireland without being clear about who’s Catholic and who’s Protestant.
Never mind that BUSH INVADED A WHOLE FRIGGIN MUSLIM COUNTRY without know there were different kinds of Muslims… I still think Reyes has to withdraw his name.
You really can’t have opinions about the Middle East if you don’t understand who’s Sunni and Shiia. It would be like having an opinion about North Ireland without being clear about who’s Catholic and who’s Protestant.
Wait, politicians are supposed to actually know something about the legislation they pass? Silly me, I thought their job was to pick which lobbyists do write the laws and just vote on slogan.
* Who’s Ozzy Osbourne?
Comment by Jägermeister
Sorry, can’t be a religious test….
J/P=?
>> * Is Finland a monarchy or republic?
I don’t know. But I have no opinions about Finland, either.
I don’t criticize Americans who can’t keep the Sunni-Shiite thing straight, since it is a little confusing.
But those same Americans really shouldn’t have any opinions about the Middle East, since they don’t understand even the most basic framework of what is happening over here.
It would be like having strong opinions about WWII but being confused about the difference between England and Germany. Being ignorant and quiet is no shame — but being ignorant and opinionated is incredibly annoying. (which describes about 90% of talk radio blow hards/.)
The real danger is when people (like Bush and Reyes) are ignorant but have power. That’s a recipe for horrific disaster and that’s what we have right now with Bush’s Iraq.
Do you have any idea how out-of-touch Bush was before the invasion? If Bush didn’t know there were Sunnis and Shittes, it means that he didn’t even have read his own dad’s book!
If YOUR dad wrote a book, would YOU read it? Not our president.
Thank you conservatives, for giving us this guy … TWICE!
Our oil suppliers in the Gulf are demanding some stability in Iraq. Certain royal families that control oil are scared of Iran, especially a potentially super-sized Iran. Israel isn’t too pleased of the prospect either. We stirred up a hornets nest and are obligated to calm the nest before leaving. This was folly from the inception, and now the price has too be paid for stupidity. Naturally politicians aren’t going to publicly state Americans are dying to pacify the Saudis and Israelis.
#2 Yeah i do think it is going to get better, I think at the very least, by default Democrats don’t feel the urge to take away the rights of the individual like Republicans were so intent on doing. Second yes the system sucks, and I don’t think the chairman should be someone who isn’t knowledgeable, even if the speaker doesn’t like them.
>Democrats don’t feel the urge to take away the rights of the >individual like Republicans were so intent on doing.
Actually they are looking to shut down free speech rights even more.
http://www.redstate.com/blogs/brad_smith/2006/dec/28/the_grassroots_lobbying_fraud_shutting_america_up
So they guy did not know what branch of Arab ghosts al-Qaeda worships on some interview and let’s put him in the loonie bin with the rest of the republicans.
Dvorak, how good is your trivia without Google at your fingertips? Maybe you thought it was time to throw your GOP followers in here a bone.
You guys really need to calm down. The Democrats are going to solve all of our problems.
They’re going to get us out of Iraq (even though they don’t control the military), they’re going to improve the economy (even though they want to raise the minimum wage and revoke tax cuts), and they’re going to improve our image around the world (by embracing our enemies).
Relax. It’s all under control.
#15, AB CD
Once again you show you don’t know much. You take an editorial from a right wing nut site and proclaim it to be true. I also see you didn’t read the entire thing.
First, I see a big difference between abridging our first amendment rights and constraining lobbyists. Lobbyists work for corporations and interest groups. They, themselves, are NOT citizens.
Second, let me quote a section from a comment posted on the site. Lobbyists had been sending computer phone calls to constituents, containing false information. The constituent could press #1 on their phone to send a complaint to their representative.
I was able to speak personally to a handful of callers, and once I explained the entire story to them, they generally were accepting of what our office was doing, and apologized for the angry tone they had originally adopted. But I could only take the time to do that with a small handful of callers. Most left angry, incoherent messages with the receptionist (several hundred over a couple or three days).
Whether you call this “corruption” or not, it is not a healthy political practice, designed to actually help the public understand what’s going on. In that instance, the funding came from a highly monied interest, but they were being funneled through a very moral-sounding organization to make it seem like this wasn’t simply a paid campaign to protect a major profit-generating operation.
#6 & 11
Maybe we could change that to “Tastes great or Less filling”
#12
The point I wanted to make was pretty much what you wrote in the following paragraph:
And Bush surrounds himself with less than stellar people. The following saying comes to mind:
#11, 21
😀
This is sort of like when one of those idiot school board or dumb teacher articles gets posted…..we go after the dumb teacher or whatever. But there really are smart school boards and smart teachers and even smart, HONEST politicians. But they get drowned out by the media and the idiots. The media wants something to raise their numbers and the idiots want attention or power and we get the impression that there isn’t a good person working in Washington D.C..
Reyes is there because Pelosi hates Harman(who is actually up on all aspects of Iran and intel in this country), and her first choice got tossed aside because he was the only impeached Federal judge to be elected to Congress. The next person was Reyes, who will never give Pelosi any compitition.
So, it really dosen’t matter which party is in control of congress…..the leaders all go to the same trough to pick their followers.
What do you mean “It’s the Democrats turn to look like idiots”?
They’ve always looked like idiots.
What do you mean “It’s the Democrats turn to look like idiots”?
They’ve always looked like idiots.
I’ll bet you Bill Clinton not only knew that there were different types of Muslims (unlike Bush) but could speak in-debt on the subject and had read the most important books on the topic.
Bill Clinton was exceptional, that way, but, c’mon, all our national politicians should have a solid grasp on Middle East issues.
Who is Sunni and who is Shiite is not exactly a fine point! You really can’t have a credible opinion about the Middle East unless you understand that part, at the very least.
It would be like having strong opinions about the Cold War but being confused between who were the capitalists and who were the communists — and what the main difference was.
#25, While I usually agree whole heartedly with your comments, this is a rare time I disagree. But only somewhat.
Who is Sunni and who is Shiite is not exactly a fine point! You really can’t have a credible opinion about the Middle East unless you understand that part, at the very least.
Knowing there is a difference between the two should be sufficient. The same during the Northern Ireland conflict. I don’t care about the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant. I only know that one group discriminated against the other. I took the oppressed side in that conflict. Not because of their religion, but because they were oppressed.
I do give you a lot of deference simply because your proximity to this conflict adds a totally different perspective.
#24 – Democrats don’t just look like idiots – they are idiots.
But they’re going to solve all our problems all right. Soon they’ll have taxes up to 95+% and then they’ll have enough money to solve all the problems.
#26
Well thanks for the compliment! I figure that if two people agree all the time, then one person is not using their brain!
Here’s why I say what I say: The Sunni-Shitte distinction defines the political alliances of the whole region.
That’s why I find the “islamofacism” talking-zinger so noxious. It would be a more useful term if Italy and Germany had wanted to exterminate each other, but even then it would not work that well.
If our leadership doesn’t understand this huge natural divide in the Muslim World, they will miss opportunities to “divide and conquer” — at the very least.
They will also miss out on opportunities to create useful strategic alliances.
A classic example of this is when the Bush administration had no idea on what to do with Iran’s offer to help us catch Taliban after the Afghanistan invasion. They thought it was a trick and did nothing with the offer.
However, when you consider that the (Shitte) Iranians didn’t want a bunch of (Sunni) radicals roaming around their country, it makes perfect sense.