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.

Hi Paul–

It’s even more pitiful.  I don’t have a vast understanding of how members of congress get assigned to the various committees, but I think they have a choice.  How could someone choose to be on the Intelligence Committee and not have a clue as to the driving force behind the sectarian violence destroying the country our troops are supposed to be protecting?   I wonder if the members of the other committees are as clueless.

Cheers–

MRE

Hi Paul–

You left something out.

MRE