Monday, December 11, 2006

Knowing the Difference

A hat tip to Rick Moran at Rightwing Nuthouse, for this link to Jeff Stein's column, originally printed in Congressional Quarterly a couple of months ago, and republished in the Daily Star of Egypt. Mr. Stein is the national security editor for Congressional Quarterly, and in recent months, he's been conducting an experiment. At the end of interviews with various members of Congress and national security officials, he asks them a basic question, essential for anyone involved in prosecuting the War on Terror:

What is the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite? (For those who don't know, the answer is here).

Oh, by the way, you can add another name to the list those officials befuddled by the difference between the branches of Islam. His name is Silvestre Reyes, and come January, he'll be the next Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

2 comments:

dave in boca said...

Speaking of Chairman Nancy, her choice for Intelligence Committee Chairman, Sylvester Reyes who has had just a little time to bone up on terrorists since the 9/11 attacks, allowed today to a Congressional Quarterly interviewer that Al Qaeda were Shi'ites.

That must be news to Usama, who has issued a death fatwa to all Shi'ites, who are to be killed on sight or any occasion when it seems fit to advance the agenda of the Religion of Peace. But UbL might have done a double-secret resignation of his AQ duties and the organization might have changed completely personnel-wise, and only Reyes and Harman and Alcee babester and a few Repubs are party to the secret. Or not?

Or maybe Reyes makes George Bush Jr. look like Henry Kissinger? Is that remotely possible?

Or is someone, as the genteel mataphor employed in Texas to describe such a situation, dumber than a bucket of hair?

Mike H. said...

For another look at Islam you can look here.