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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,951 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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OP
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,951 Likes: 6 |
Democrats’ New Intelligence Chairman Needs a Crash Course on al Qaeda
Incoming intel chairman Silvestre Reyes is a bit fuzzy on the whole know-thine-enemy front: When quizzed, he thought al Qaeda was Shiite and Hezbollah was Sunni.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40
Fair Play! 15000+ posts
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Fair Play! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40 |
I think lack of knowledge about Iraq has been an ongoing problem. Other excerpts from G-man's linked article... Quote:
To his credit, Reyes, a kindly, thoughtful man who also sits on the Armed Service Committee, does see the undertows drawing the region into chaos.
For example, he knows that the 1,400- year-old split in Islam between Sunnis and Shiites not only fuels the militias and death squads in Iraq, it drives the competition for supremacy across the Middle East between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.
That’s more than two key Republicans on the Intelligence Committee knew when I interviewed them last summer. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., and Terry Everett, R-Ala., both back for another term, were flummoxed by such basic questions, as were several top counterterrorism officials at the FBI.
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Quote:
The best argument for needing to understand who’s what in the Middle East is probably the mistaken invasion itself, despite the preponderance of expert opinion that it was a terrible idea — including that of Bush’s father and his advisers. On the day in 2003 when Iraqi mobs toppled the statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, Bush was said to be unaware of the possibility that a Sunni-Shia civil war could fill the power vacuum, according to a reliable source with good White House connections.
If President Bush and some of his closest associates, not to mention top counterterrorism officials, have demonstrated their own ignorance about who the players are in the Middle East, why should we expect the leaders of the House Intelligence Committee to get it right?
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There really isn't any good excuse for the general lack of knowledge by our leaders at this point.
Fair play!
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,951 Likes: 6
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
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OP
Officially "too old for this shit" 15000+ posts
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 43,951 Likes: 6 |
No, there isn't. But I thought the whole point of electing a new congress was to fix things like this.
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40
Fair Play! 15000+ posts
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Fair Play! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40 |
Since the article indicated that Reyes already knew more than some Republicans on the committee I think we already have an improvement. We (now) both agree people in such positions need to do better though.
Fair play!
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Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,251
6000+ posts
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6000+ posts
Joined: Oct 2003
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In other words... you're willing to settle.
Putting the "fun" back in Fundamentalist Christian Dogma.
" I know God exists because WBAM told me so. " - theory9
JLA brand RACK points = 514k 
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40
Fair Play! 15000+ posts
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Fair Play! 15000+ posts
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 15,796 Likes: 40 |
Quote:
wannabuyamonkey said:
In other words... you're willing to settle.
No. As I said they need to do better. I like my party but our troops deserve leaders better educated about Iraq.
Fair play!
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