Quick: al Qaeda is what, Sunni or Shia? If you don’t know, it doesn’t matter all that much if you’re a doctor, a bartender, or a software programmer. It’s a different story if you’re the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. CQ‘s Jeff Stein gives Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) a pop quiz:
Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia? “Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?” “Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say. “Predominantly ââ?¬â?? probably Shiite,” he ventured. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.
Reyes also didn’t know which camp Hezbollah belongs to. And it’s not a Democrat thing–Rs who have flunked Stein’s quizzing include Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., and Terry Everett, R-Ala. Several top counterterrorism officials at the FBI also flunked. Article here.