How Dumb Is Congress?

The new head of the Intelligence Committee has no clue about the Middle East. Money quote:

Reyes stumbled when I asked him a simple question about al Qaeda at the end of a 40-minute interview in his office last week. Members of the Intelligence Committee, mind you, are paid $165,200 a year to know more than basic facts about our foes in the Middle East.

We warmed up with a long discussion about intelligence issues and Iraq. And then we veered into terrorism‚Äôs major players. To me, it‚Äôs like asking about Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: Who‚Äôs on what side? 

The dialogue went like this:

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 — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

And we wonder why we’re losing.