U.S. Officials show ignorance about basic Mideast facts

The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee Silvestre Reyes.

December 13, 2006

The Telegraph Group

Washington: The new Democratic chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee did not know what Hezbollah was and incorrectly described Al Qaida as deriving from the Shiite rather than Sunni sect.

Representative Silvestre Reyes was flummoxed when a journalist rounded off a 40-minute interview by asking him two basic questions about the Islamist groups that are the principal targets of America's intelligence agencies.

"Al Qaida is what - Sunni or Shiite?" Jeff Stein, the Congressional Quarterly magazine's national security editor, asked Reyes.

Column

"Al Qaida, they have both," came the reply. "You're talking about predominately?" the congressman then asked, before venturing: "Predominantly - probably Shiite."

As Stein noted in his subsequent column: "He couldn't have been more wrong. Al Qaida is profoundly Sunni."

He then asked the congressman about the militant group Hezbollah. "Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah..." he said, laughing. "Why do you ask me these questions at five o'clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?"

The holes in his knowledge are a fresh embarrassment to Nancy Pelosi, the incoming Speaker of the House of Representatives, whose leadership was undermined when her chosen deputy was rejected by Democrats.

She selected Reyes to chair the House intelligence committee over the head of Jane Harman, who is widely respected as having a firm grasp of the nuances of the Middle East.

Pelosi is said to harbour a long-time personal grudge against Harman. Stein has been quizzing senior intelligence officials and politicians with similar questions for the past 18 months.

Security branch

In a similar gaffe-laden session, Willie Hulon, chief of the FBI's national security branch, did not know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites either. "The basics goes back to their beliefs and who they were following," he said. "And the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shiites and the difference between who they were following."

So which were Iran and Hezbollah? With a 50 per cent chance of getting it right, Hulon flunked by plumping for Sunni.

Congressman Terry Everett, a Republican and vice-chairman of the House intelligence sub-committee on technical and tactical intelligence, chuckled when he was asked the same question.

"One's in one location, another's in another location," he said. "No, to be honest with you, I don't know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something." Islam split into Shiite and Sunni sects after the death of the Prophet in 632AD. Sunnis follow the Prophet's lieutenants as their religious leaders while Shiites follow his descendants.