Scandalous: Silvestre Reyes Is Clueless
I picked this little tidbit up from Captain Ed and I was floored to learn how little Rep. Reyes knows about our enemy:
Reyes can’t answer some fundamental questions about the powerful forces arrayed against us in the Middle East.
It begs the question, of course: How can the Intelligence Committee do effective oversight of U.S. spy agencies when its leaders don’t know basics about the battlefield?
...
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.
This exchange occurred between Rep. Silvestre Reyes and Jeff Stein of CQ (no, not Captain's Quarters; it's Congressional Quarterly), and it should send shivers down the spine of every American who has a much better grasp of our enemy that he does. Even Stein admits in the title that Reyes needs a crash course:
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.
That’s because the extremist Sunnis who make up a l Qaeda consider all Shiites to be heretics.
Al Qaeda’s Sunni roots account for its very existence. Osama bin Laden and his followers believe the Saudi Royal family besmirched the true faith through their corruption and alliance with the United States, particularly allowing U.S. troops on Saudi soil.
It’s been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.
Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?
It is one of the most important lessons taught to soldiers of every strip: Know thy enemy. Sun-Tzu put a great emphasis on this point for if we know our enemy as they know themselves, they can be defeated much easier than if we knew nothing about them. And it's apparent that Reyes knows very little about enemy, and he is poised to head up the House Intelligence Committee.
And for the Democrat caucus that lodged their complaints and doubts about Alcee Hastings, they have better get vocal really quick over Reyes. It's clear that this guy doesn't know his @$$ froma hole in the ground when it comes to this war. That's not to disparage his military service to this nation (he was a sergeant flying helicopters during Vietnam) but this is a far cry from being a chopper jockey. As the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he'll command one of the powerful positions in the House, and be privy to some of the most sensitive materials to go through Congress. It would be nice to know that what he reads he'll understand.
And if you folks still aren't convinced this guy can't comprende the gravity of his job, here's another exchange:
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah...”
He laughed again, shifting in his seat.
“Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
“Pocito,” I said—a little.
“Pocito?! “ He laughed again.
“Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.
Reyes: “Well, I, uh....”
I apologized for putting him “on the spot a little.” But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on U.S. soil and in the Middle East have been front page news for a long time now.
Someone in the Democrat Party PLEASE get this incompetent boob away from the chairman's seat. He doesn't know anything about the proxy army of Iran and Syria? Does he recall earlier this year when Israel squared off against them, or was he having a problem comprehending that intelligence splashed across the news networks and the dead tree industry for weeks?
If this is Nancy Pelosi's idea of the most qualified person for the job, it's time to toss Nancy under the bus, hold new Speaker elections, and by all God's means, please bring back Jane Harman. She may be a Democrat, and she may have her qualms with the president, but at least she understands our enemy. She can identify them. She knows them. The chair is hers, rightfully, and Pelosi did this to be a b***h. It's time for the democrats to jettison San Fran Nan, and bring some semblance and order back tot heir party in the House. If they don't, these next two years aren't going to be bumpy. They're going to be a 35,000 foot freefall with no parachute.
Publius II
I picked this little tidbit up from Captain Ed and I was floored to learn how little Rep. Reyes knows about our enemy:
Reyes can’t answer some fundamental questions about the powerful forces arrayed against us in the Middle East.
It begs the question, of course: How can the Intelligence Committee do effective oversight of U.S. spy agencies when its leaders don’t know basics about the battlefield?
...
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.
This exchange occurred between Rep. Silvestre Reyes and Jeff Stein of CQ (no, not Captain's Quarters; it's Congressional Quarterly), and it should send shivers down the spine of every American who has a much better grasp of our enemy that he does. Even Stein admits in the title that Reyes needs a crash course:
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.
That’s because the extremist Sunnis who make up a l Qaeda consider all Shiites to be heretics.
Al Qaeda’s Sunni roots account for its very existence. Osama bin Laden and his followers believe the Saudi Royal family besmirched the true faith through their corruption and alliance with the United States, particularly allowing U.S. troops on Saudi soil.
It’s been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.
Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?
It is one of the most important lessons taught to soldiers of every strip: Know thy enemy. Sun-Tzu put a great emphasis on this point for if we know our enemy as they know themselves, they can be defeated much easier than if we knew nothing about them. And it's apparent that Reyes knows very little about enemy, and he is poised to head up the House Intelligence Committee.
And for the Democrat caucus that lodged their complaints and doubts about Alcee Hastings, they have better get vocal really quick over Reyes. It's clear that this guy doesn't know his @$$ froma hole in the ground when it comes to this war. That's not to disparage his military service to this nation (he was a sergeant flying helicopters during Vietnam) but this is a far cry from being a chopper jockey. As the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he'll command one of the powerful positions in the House, and be privy to some of the most sensitive materials to go through Congress. It would be nice to know that what he reads he'll understand.
And if you folks still aren't convinced this guy can't comprende the gravity of his job, here's another exchange:
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah...”
He laughed again, shifting in his seat.
“Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
“Pocito,” I said—a little.
“Pocito?! “ He laughed again.
“Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.
Reyes: “Well, I, uh....”
I apologized for putting him “on the spot a little.” But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on U.S. soil and in the Middle East have been front page news for a long time now.
Someone in the Democrat Party PLEASE get this incompetent boob away from the chairman's seat. He doesn't know anything about the proxy army of Iran and Syria? Does he recall earlier this year when Israel squared off against them, or was he having a problem comprehending that intelligence splashed across the news networks and the dead tree industry for weeks?
If this is Nancy Pelosi's idea of the most qualified person for the job, it's time to toss Nancy under the bus, hold new Speaker elections, and by all God's means, please bring back Jane Harman. She may be a Democrat, and she may have her qualms with the president, but at least she understands our enemy. She can identify them. She knows them. The chair is hers, rightfully, and Pelosi did this to be a b***h. It's time for the democrats to jettison San Fran Nan, and bring some semblance and order back tot heir party in the House. If they don't, these next two years aren't going to be bumpy. They're going to be a 35,000 foot freefall with no parachute.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 5:05 PM
1 Comments:
He should also resign from the intelligence committee ASAP. Not only is that embarrassing but that it is downright scary how little he knows.
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