Our new House intelligence Chief

[Gan]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered "they are probably both," then ventured "Predominantly -- probably Shiite."

That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.

Reyes could also not answer questions put by Stein about Hezbollah, a Shiite group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations that is based in Southern Lebanon.


Story continued at the link.

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/12/incoming-house-intelligence-chief.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great choice Nancy.

:clap:

[Apathy]

Goes hand in hand with a president who can barely read :)

[AestheticDeath]

Thats sad.

[Artha]

Goes hand in hand with a president who can barely read
I don't even know where to begin on my logical fallacies checklist.

[Latrinsorm]

Reyes answered "they are probably both,"Ouch.

I would say that al Qaeda's activities puts it outside the classification of "Muslim" to begin with, so it's probably fair to say it is neither Sunni nor Shiite.

[Drew]

Typical Democrat behavior.

Man it's gonna be nice to have the luxury of opposition back soon.

[Ilvane]

Oh Brother.

I suppose we should give all house members a quiz on these things.

Angela

[CrystalTears]

Oh Brother.

I suppose we should give all house members a quiz on these things.

Angela
Gee yeah, since we were at war in Iraq, and helping them now, it would really help to know who we're dealing with. WTF, Angela.

[Skirmisher]

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=21814

[Back]

http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=21814

I was wondering where I saw that article. Thanks Skirm. I think 60 Minutes did an article on it as well a few months back.

Par for the course? Brilliant. I’m as disappointed as any rational person might be given what CT said. We are at war. WTF?

[Skeeter]

Does it take that much effort to at least know what you're arguing about in the house and senate? Politicians should be elected on merit not on popularity.

[Ilvane]

Um, CT, why the jump on me there? I agree, this man should know what he's dealing with.

I was serious when I said they should all get tests on this stuff.

Angela

[Sean of the Thread]

CAT FIGHT!!!


My money is on CT.

[CrystalTears]

Sorry, just not how it sounded. When you start off with "oh brother" and "I suppose we should quiz them" it sounded like you were not understanding what the big deal was.

[Ilvane]

Nah, I was just saying that it was pretty ridiculous that the man tapped to be Intelligence chief doesn't know much about the factions involved in the war we are fighting. Scary.

In addition, he should pave the way for someone who does know about it, in my opinion.

We have enough trouble with a president who doesn't have much of a clue on a lot of things.:)

Angela

[TheEschaton]

But that article from the thread before was how NO ONE in Congress knew wtf was up with Al Qaeda.

There IS NO ONE better qualified than him to take the job. Republican or Democrat. Which is kind of sad and pathetic.

-TheE-

[Parkbandit]

We have enough trouble with a president who doesn't have much of a clue on a lot of things.:)

Angela


Clueless enough to make you liberals look like dumbfucks 2 Presidential elections in a row.

Who's clueless again?

:lol:

[Artha]

There IS NO ONE better qualified than him to take the job. Republican or Democrat. Which is kind of sad and pathetic.
Not nobody, just most. And not to excuse these guys, because they only work for 2 days out of the week so they have ample time to study, but the situation is amazingly large and complex. It starts at least back at the time of Muhammed's death, if you really want to understand the religious differences, so it's not really surprising how little they know.

[Back]

Clueless enough to make you liberals look like dumbfucks 2 Presidential elections in a row.

Who's clueless again?

:lol:

Obviously you are because you refuse to acknowledge the popular vote of 2000 and how slim a margin 2004 actually was.

As far as making people look like dumbfucks, he’s done a great job of that with his supporters.

[Artha]

Goes hand in hand with a president who can barely read
I don't even know where to begin on my logical fallacies checklist.
That's right, I'm quoting myself.

[Parkbandit]

Obviously you are because you refuse to acknowledge the popular vote of 2000 and how slim a margin 2004 actually was.

As far as making people look like dumbfucks, he’s done a great job of that with his supporters.

Speaking of dumbfucks.. how did I know Backlash would respond with "WE WUZ ROBBED IN BOTH OF THEM!"

LOL

I laugh at you daily.

[Back]

Speaking of dumbfucks.. how did I know Backlash would respond with "WE WUZ ROBBED IN BOTH OF THEM!"

LOL

I laugh at you daily.

Laughing is good therapy for someone who has such a tenuous grasp on reality.

[DeV]

What's worse, these are the same people that vote on social and political issues that matter most in this country, yet it can be partly assumed that half don't know what the fuck they are voting for or against in the first place.

[Landrion]

Obviously you are because you refuse to acknowledge the popular vote of 2000 and how slim a margin 2004 actually was.

As far as making people look like dumbfucks, he’s done a great job of that with his supporters.

I love to hear bemoaning of the popular vote of Bush/Gore when there is dispute over the accuracy of just Florida in that same election. How much faith do you really have that the popular vote is measured accurately to the percent? Especially given that it does not determine the election.

Yeah it sucks to have a candidate lose the electoral and seem to win the popular, but that speaks to the reason we have the electoral in the first place. You would not want the country to bear the burden and expense of a nation-wide recount.

Yeah wasted votes suck, Im a republican in New Jersey, Im intimately familiar. But understand that that very syndrome (why go vote - Im in a red/blue state - it wont matter) skews the popular vote you feel so cheated by.

Remember as well, both parties are aware of how the rules work. Campaign efforts are focused on swing states, not strongholds.

Maybe its a sucky system, but its the rules everyone went into it with. The popular vote means nothing and it means nothing for a reason. Its not accurate, its not campaigned for and its adulterated by the fact that it doesnt matter.

[Kefka]

Speaking of dumbfucks.. how did I know Backlash would respond with "WE WUZ ROBBED IN BOTH OF THEM!"

LOL

I laugh at you daily.

Didn't see any mention of anything being robbed. Be easy there PB. It's just one election. Conservatives will have another shot at it in 2 years.

[Back]

Maybe its a sucky system, but its the rules everyone went into it with. The popular vote means nothing and it means nothing for a reason. Its not accurate, its not campaigned for and its adulterated by the fact that it doesnt matter.

A discrepancy of half a million votes seems like a big deal, but thats just me. You guys can ridicule me all you want, but the numbers are there. I don’t feel Bush was elected by the majority and hasn't done the will of the majority. Its quite obvious now with his popularity dipping into the low 20s.

[Sean of the Thread]

A discrepancy of half a million votes seems like a big deal, but thats just me. You guys can ridicule me all you want, but the numbers are there. I don’t feel Bush was elected by the majority and hasn't done the will of the majority. Its quite obvious now with his popularity dipping into the low 20s.


Scoreboard says he was elected.

[CrystalTears]

Yeah and we hired this dipshit customer support rep because she said she could do the job. We may have "elected" her in but we can still say she sucks donkey balls at her job.

[Stanley Burrell]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Silvestre Reyes of Texas, who incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped to head the Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take over in January, failed a quiz of basic questions about al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two of the key terrorist organizations the intelligence community has focused on since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

When asked by CQ National Security Editor Jeff Stein whether al Qaeda is one or the other of the two major branches of Islam -- Sunni or Shiite -- Reyes answered "they are probably both," then ventured "Predominantly -- probably Shiite."

That is wrong. Al Qaeda was founded by Osama bin Laden as a Sunni organization and views Shiites as heretics.

Reyes could also not answer questions put by Stein about Hezbollah, a Shiite group on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations that is based in Southern Lebanon.


Story continued at the link.

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2006/12/incoming-house-intelligence-chief.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great choice Nancy.

:clap:

Another Texan in the government with a questionable outlook on otherworldly statistics.

Perish the thought :(

I did like the part in my crafted article about:


Reyes did, however, apologize for inadequately quoting scriptures by referencing Bilal as Aibiji, as improper chronology would have it.

She later vowed to pilgrimage during the celebration of Ramadan having forsaken the three Elders' teaching.

.

In conclusion: I laugh mightily at both parties' alpha and beta brain waves and lack thereof.

Hopefully, if we continue to have idiots in power and empowered, they won't be... Dangerous idiots this time around. Perhaps?

[Landrion]

A discrepancy of half a million votes seems like a big deal, but thats just me. You guys can ridicule me all you want, but the numbers are there. I don’t feel Bush was elected by the majority and hasn't done the will of the majority. Its quite obvious now with his popularity dipping into the low 20s.

Naw man, Im really not saying this stuff to ridicule you. But I want you to think about something: 500,000 votes against a vote turnout of 105417258 is an error margin of just 0.0047. Slightly less than half a percent. Half a percent against something you know theyre not recounting because it doesnt matter to the outcome.

I know, this is old and a sticky point to Gore supporters. Someone will probably reply about Diebold next. Just please understand why those of us who supported Bush have trouble acknowledging it as relevant. Like I said, wasted votes suck, but we suffer from it on both sides of the fence and turnout is affected by it.

[Sean of the Thread]

Yeah and we hired this dipshit customer support rep because she said she could do the job. We may have "elected" her in but we can still say she sucks donkey balls at her job.

Whoever hired her is the dipshit then. I wasn't saying anything about who sucks donkey balls or not I was just reminding blacklash that results of the election were final.

[Back]

Naw man, Im really not saying this stuff to ridicule you. But I want you to think about something: 500,000 votes against a vote turnout of 105417258 is an error margin of just 0.0047. Slightly less than half a percent. Half a percent against something you know theyre not recounting because it doesnt matter to the outcome.

I know, this is old and a sticky point to Gore supporters. Someone will probably reply about Diebold next. Just please understand why those of us who supported Bush have trouble acknowledging it as relevant. Like I said, wasted votes suck, but we suffer from it on both sides of the fence and turnout is affected by it.

In 2004 the margin was a even lower than that but the electoral votes matched. The only reason I bring that up is to slap down the “BUSH SPANKED U!!” clowns. If thats a spank, and the 2000 popular vote margin was twice that, then you either need to be consistent or sit down and shut the fuck up already.

And yes, I realize there is a difference between popular votes and electoral votes. When they differ then there is a cause for examination.

[Skirmisher]

Issues people, lets stick to them.


Cut out the needless insults.

[CrystalTears]

Whoever hired her is the dipshit then. I wasn't saying anything about who sucks donkey balls or not I was just reminding blacklash that results of the election were final.
Sorry babe, the comment was towards Backlash and the thing about Bush's popularity going down, not you. I really need to learn to quote. :)

And er, the only insulting was mine towards a coworker, not anyone here, however it certainly wasn't needless. She IS a dipshit. Anyway, sorry for straying.

[Sean of the Thread]

Is it the snacky mc tacky girl?

[Artha]

When they differ then there is a cause for examination.
The thing is that the system is in place BECAUSE they can differ. The electors (people doing the actual voting in the electoral college) are generally not bound to vote for whoever got the popular vote. Some areas/states do have laws binding them to that decision, but in general they're free to vote for whoever they wish.

[Landrion]

In 2004 the margin was a even lower than that but the electoral votes matched. The only reason I bring that up is to slap down the “BUSH SPANKED U!!” clowns. If thats a spank, and the 2000 popular vote margin was twice that, then you either need to be consistent or sit down and shut the fuck up already.

And yes, I realize there is a difference between popular votes and electoral votes. When they differ then there is a cause for examination.

Fair enough, I doubt anyone should be representing those elections as anything but close. Spanked is not a term I would use.

[Gan]

Another Texan in the government with a questionable outlook on otherworldly statistics.
Perish the thought :(

If being a Texan is all that bad, I'm suprised that he even made it on Nancy's radar. Or anyone's radar for that matter.

Lets hope your generalization was just made in jest. ;)

[Ilvane]

I think it's less about being from Texas, and more about the man not knowing.

However, I'd be surprised if many could find Iraq on a map, never mind Afghanistan.

Ah well, I just expect higher standards out of my elected officials. Sad state that we are in.

Angela

[Back]

The thing is that the system is in place BECAUSE they can differ. The electors (people doing the actual voting in the electoral college) are generally not bound to vote for whoever got the popular vote. Some areas/states do have laws binding them to that decision, but in general they're free to vote for whoever they wish.

I’m pretty sure any election observer will tell you that a discrepancy between the two is cause for closer examination of the results. I don’t see how this is a stretch. Trying to tell me its no big deal is a stretch.

Anyway, ancient history, and its PBs fault for bringing up those elections anyway.

How we got into a war without knowing what was really going on over there is beyond me. Its not beyond this administration however.

[Latrinsorm]

It starts at least back at the time of Muhammed's deathActually, the Sunni group doesn't really show up until a couple centuries after Muhammad's death, and they don't really come into conflict with any Shiites until after the (effective) end of the Abbasids' power (which is still a long, long time ago). The people who call themselves Shiites aren't always harkening back to the actual Ali, sometimes he's used as a symbol for resistance (esp. pious) to the immorality of the ruling power.

It's also important to note that, like every religion, people who call themselves a particular thing do not necessarily have much in common with other people who call themselves that thing. For instance, some Ismaili Shiite groups were indistinguishable from Sunnis, but some went around murdering any Sunni they could get their hands on.

:)

[Parkbandit]

Didn't see any mention of anything being robbed. Be easy there PB. It's just one election. Conservatives will have another shot at it in 2 years.

Clearly you must either be dumb, new to the forums or all of the above.

[Parkbandit]

A discrepancy of half a million votes seems like a big deal, but thats just me. You guys can ridicule me all you want, but the numbers are there. I don’t feel Bush was elected by the majority and hasn't done the will of the majority. Its quite obvious now with his popularity dipping into the low 20s.

God.. we've been hearing this since 2000... let it go.

We have elections laws in this country. One is the Electoral College. Please just learn the process.. and we won't ridicule you all we want.

Ok, we have much more material than just ignorance of the election process.. but still.

[Stanley Burrell]

Lets hope your generalization was just made in jest. ;)

Never do I bust out the t'was (or Arial Unicode MS), however... Now, more than ever before:

T'wizzy-wizza'-was, M'Lord.

[xtc]

For instance, some Ismaili Shiite groups were indistinguishable from Sunnis, but some went around murdering any Sunni they could get their hands on.
:)

Indistinguishable in appearance not in belief. Many Sunnis wouldn't consider Ismailis real Muslims.

[xtc]

Sad comment that the new Intelligence Chief failed such a basic question. I bet both Repubs and Dems lack basic knowledge of Al Qaeda and Islam.

I think Bush's basic lack of knowledge of Middle East history and Islam is one of the factors that lead him to weigh into the current mess in Iraq. I am very disappointed to see the Dems are making the same mistakes. This guy has no business as Intelligence Chief.

Pelosi was nuts for appointing a guy from Texas ;)

[Gan]

Pelosi was nuts for appointing a guy from Texas ;)


hahahaha. :(

While I do agree that Pelosi is nuts.

:shibby:

[xtc]

hahahaha. :(

While I do agree that Pelosi is nuts.

:shibby:

How can you dislike a woman that is in favour of taxcuts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXoqALnV0ok

[ElanthianSiren]

hahahaha. :(

While I do agree that Pelosi is nuts.

:shibby:

It'll probably be okay, as long as he doesn't drive a pickup. Just kidding, Gan :)

I'm not sure what Pelosi was doing, and I'm disappointed honestly that we seem unable to find government authority in this country with a firm grasp on Islam, but I understand why it's happened, in general.

-M

[Gan]

How can you dislike a woman that is in favour of taxcuts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXoqALnV0ok

:rofl:

Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing.

[Latrinsorm]

Indistinguishable in appearance not in belief.In belief too, that was the point. The philosophical differences between Ismaili and Twelver or Ismaili and Sunni did
Many Sunnis wouldn't consider Ismailis real Muslims.Regardless of how they are considered, certain Ismaili groups in history would still be indistinguishable at Sunni get-togethers.

In any event, I think it's going to be a snipey couple of years wrt politics. :(

[xtc]

In belief too, that was the point. The philosophical differences between Ismaili and Twelver or Ismaili and Sunni did Regardless of how they are considered, certain Ismaili groups in history would still be indistinguishable at Sunni get-togethers.

In any event, I think it's going to be a snipey couple of years wrt politics. :(

Ismailis aren't Sunnis, they are a sect of Shia or a Shi'ite sect. So they wouldn't attend a Sunni get together.

One of the fundamental or essential beliefs of Islam is that Muhammed (PBUH) is the last or seal of the Prophets. The Ismailis treat the Aga Khan as a prophet. Prior Aga Khans have claimed to be divine and followers were required to send him his weight in gold, diamonds and jewel. Thus a fundamental difference in belief.

I do not mean to be snipey.