Top US officials don't get the basics cuz they don't have to

John McCain's recent gaffe over Iranian-AQ connections is just one in a long series of post-9/11 misunderstandings that started with George Bush's revelation that there is more than one sect within Islam. Understanding the fundamental historical facts of a region in which over 150,000 US military personnel are deployed is essential, yet so many of our statesmen -- most notably the president -- seem to lack even a junior high school knowledge of the swarm of influences within the region: religion, general history, Islamism, Arabism, oil (maybe they get that one), colonialism, modern technology, the Shia revolt, etc. Ostensibly, this is stuff that could be briefed to a senator in less than an hour or two, and you'd think they would run into the terminology frequently from intelligence briefs, newspapers, committee meetings, citizens' letters,votes on the war, etc.

And so it is astounding to find Mr John "MAVERICK FROM TOP GUN" McCain making bold statements about AQ-Iranian connections 5 years into the second Gulf war.

The quote: "[it is] common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." At first glance, I thought this was an attempt by McCain to show that he hasn't forgotten about Iran, and that the mullahs still give him a raging j-bone -- y'know, J-Mac stroking the fires for the 25% of Americans who still think that God is on our side. But after the weird way his campaign sent out a memo correcting his mistake, then corrected the correction, it seems like Mr McCain might actually believe that the Iranians and AQ are somehow part of an evil alliance.

All of this evoked Congressman Reyes. I don't know if you remember him, but he became House Intel. Committee Chairman when the Dems retook the House in '06. He stumbled through such elementary questions as "Is al-Qaeda predominately Shi'a or Sunni." That's like asking if Nazis were German. The full conversation from the interview conducted by Jeff Stein of Congressional Quarterly is as follows (and it's fucking scary):

JS: "Al Qaeda is what", I asked, "Sunni or Shia?"

SR: “Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”

JS: “Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

SR: “Predominantly — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

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 ...

And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?

SR: “Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah...”

He laughed again, shifting in his seat.

SR: “Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”

JS: “Poquito,” I said—a little.

SR: “Poquito?! “ He laughed again.

JS: “Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.

SR: “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 ...

“Yeah,” Reyes said, rightly observing, “but . . . it’s not like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It’s a heck of a lot more complex.

“And I agree with you — we ought to expend some effort into understanding them. But speaking only for myself, it’s hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories.”

(LINKS to more of Mr Stein's reporting below)

When I heard about Reyes's inability to describe Hizb'ullah or AQ in the most elementary of terms I was initially pissed off. I sent an e-mail to Dr. Thomas Barnett, a national security strategist at the Naval War College, asking him how was it possible that the House Intel chief could barely get through the ABCs of the war. His reply was depressing and grim -- and short because he sent it from a blackberry. It went something like this: "No need for them to be briefed fully. Staffers shape most votes and speeches in the modern congressional office. -- TPMB"

LINKS:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002691574
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17stein.html?ex=1318737600&en=c5709ea7c5631b3f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://public.cq.com/public/20061211_homeland.html
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=8e1061b86e6470b1f9f7a414dff6883ec0a4064d